NEWS: CNN.com 29 Nov 02: Drug dog's crotch-sniffing 'just being friendly'

Drug dog's crotch-sniffing 'just being friendly'
Friday, November 29, 2002 Posted: 12:35 AM EST (0535 GMT)
CANBERRA, Australia (Reuters) -- Rocky the police dog was just being friendly when he nuzzled the crotch of a drug suspect and did not breach the man's rights, an Australian court has ruled.
The 22-year-old suspect was found to be carrying amphetamines and cannabis but the man's lawyers had argued that Rocky's crotch nuzzle amounted to assault.
"If your honour were to do as this dog did and nuzzle the defendant's genitals, it would be an indecent assault," lawyer Clive Steirn was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Friday.
But Supreme Court Justice Barry O'Keefe said the crotch nuzzle by Rocky outside a Sydney nightclub in February 2001 did not constitute a search and the act of sniffing involved no trespass.
"When a 'crotch nuzzle'...is performed by a dog in relation to a human being, it may be no more than a conventional, friendly, social gesture with no hostile intent, and unlikely to constitute an assault," O'Keefe said.
O'Keefe's ruling on Thursday overturned an earlier decision to dismiss drug charges against the man, the newspaper reported.
From: http://www.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/asiapcf/auspac/11/29/aust.sniff.reut/index.html
ROFLMAO!
He got busted with drugs, so tried to sue for sexual assault against a police dog that sniffed his nuts! Only in Americ... oh wait, it was Australia...
BigTrancer

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"In the case of the defendant, the evidence of Senior Constable Richardson was that the dog flared his nostrils, sniffed the air and then, by what he agreed with Mr Stewart for the defendant could be described as bunting and ferreting, sniffed about until he headed straight towards the defendant, at which point that dog then sniffed around the defendant's genital organs, his trousers and his pockets, put his nose onto the outside of the defendant's pocket and sat down. ... he remained sitting ... with his nose in that position until police officers then searched the defendant, finding illegal substances."
It's actually a pretty interesting read in regards to the use of sniffer dogs and the law in this area. What is interesting is that there is a small possibility based upon the judgement that a search may be found illegal where the dog is shown to have assaulted the defendent. Just a thought for anyone found assailed by a grumpy sniffer dog.

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