Sonoma County District Attorney Jill Ravitch’s office filed charges against a Graton man who was bitten by a sheriff’s dog during his April 4 arrest, county court records show.
On April 6, Ravitch’s office filed three charges against Jason Anglero-Wyrick, 35, including two felony counts of resisting an executive officer and one misdemeanor count of resisting arrest, according to records filed with the Sonoma County Superior Court.
The case sparked debate over the sheriff’s deputies behavior last month after clips of an 18-minute video of the incident received millions of views online.
On April 4, deputies from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office arrived at Anglero-Wyrick’s home after a caller alleged that Anglero-Wyrick had threatened him and his family members with a gun during multiple incidents throughout the day.
After the officers arrived at their home, Anglero-Wyrick, 35, and Naustachia Green, a 35-year-old woman, walked out of the house and approached the officers. Green, with her arms outstretched, stood between Anglero-Wyrick and the deputies, who had their guns drawn and repeatedly ordered Anglero-Wyrick, an African-American man, to crawl towards them, the bystander video of the event shows.
During the arrest a sheriff’s K9 dog named Vader bit Anglero-Wyrick’s leg for over a minute, the bystander video shows.
Sheriff’s deputies did not find a gun and the caller who complained about Anglero-Wyrick stopped cooperating with the deputies, according to an April 6 press release from the Sheriff’s Office. Anglero-Wyrick was instead arrested for misdemeanor battery on a peace officer and misdemeanor resisting arrest. He was later released on bail.
Clips of the bystander video soon went viral online, triggering commenters to question the deputies’ use of force and why the dog did not release Anglero-Wyrick’s leg sooner.
The District Attorney’s Office did not return a request for comment on the charges on Friday, May 15.
George Boisseau, Anglero-Wyrick’s criminal defense attorney, declined to comment on the charges.
