Biden’s canine Commander has bitten Secret Service officers 10 occasions in 4 months, data present

WASHINGTON — WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden ‘s canine Commander bit Secret Service officers not less than 10 occasions between October 2022 and January, together with one incident that required a visit to the hospital for an injured regulation enforcement officer, in line with data from the Division of Homeland Safety.

The conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch on Tuesday launched practically 200 pages of Secret Service data that it obtained by a Freedom of Info Act lawsuit. The group mentioned it filed go well with after the company, a division of DHS, “failed to reply adequately” to its request final December for data about biting incidents involving the purebred German Shepherd Canine. The group mentioned it filed the request after receiving a tip about Commander’s habits.

The White Home and the Secret Service appeared to minimize the state of affairs on Tuesday.

Elizabeth Alexander, communications director for first woman Jill Biden, mentioned in an e mail that the White Home complicated is a “distinctive and infrequently worrying environment” for household pets and that the Biden household was “working by methods to make this example higher for everybody.”

Anthony Guglielmi, chief spokesperson for the Secret Service, mentioned in a separate e mail that his company has for the previous a number of presidents “navigated how greatest to function round household pets and these incidents aren’t any exception. We take the security and wellbeing of our workers extraordinarily severely.”

The Secret Service supplies safety safety for the president and his household, and scores of its officers are posted across the government mansion and its sprawling grounds.

Biden obtained Commander in December 2021 as a present from his brother James. The president’s earlier canine, one other German shepherd named Main, had been despatched to reside with buddies in Delaware after some biting incidents of his personal involving Secret Service officers and White Home workers.

The household additionally has a cat, Willow.

On Nov. 3, 2022, a Secret Service official emailed colleagues that Commander had bitten a uniformed officer twice — on the higher proper arm and thigh. Workers from the White Home medical unit handled the officer and determined to have the person taken to a hospital.

A captain of the Uniform Division emailed later that day that he had been suggested that Commander was updated on his vaccinations.

A notice the next day added particulars concerning the assault, together with that the officer who was bitten used a metal cart to guard himself from one other assault. The officer later was positioned on a number of days of restricted responsibility based mostly on medical doctors’ recommendation.

Alexander mentioned the Bidens have been working with the Secret Service and the White Home residence workers “on extra leashing protocols and coaching” for Commander, in addition to establishing designated areas the place he can run round for train.

“The president and first woman are extremely grateful to the Secret Service and Govt Residence workers for all they do to maintain them, their household and the nation secure,” Alexander added.

Guglielmi mentioned Secret Service workers are inspired to report job-related accidents to their quick supervisors for applicable documentation.

“As such, we’re conscious of previous incidents involving first-family pets and these situations had been handled equally to comparable office accidents, to incorporate with related notifications and reporting procedures adopted,” he mentioned.

“Whereas particular brokers and officers neither take care of nor deal with the primary household’s pets, we repeatedly work with all relevant entities to attenuate hostile impacts in an atmosphere that features pets,” Guglielmi added.

Commander is commonly seen being dealt with by the White Home’s chief groundskeeper.

The New York Submit was first to report on Commander’s biting incidents.