A thug who repeatedly punched and kicked a police dog has been jailed. Kyle Hollingsworth, aged 32, was reported to police after he broke into a woman’s back garden in Gladstone Street, Mansfield, and began banging on windows.
A dog officer on routine patrol attended the scene at around 9.30pm on October 27 last year and challenged Hollingsworth in the street. Hollingsworth, who was carrying a large bottle at the time, refused to comply with instructions from the officer and approached her.
He then lashed out at Police Dog Max and continued to punch and kick him even after he was taken to the floor. Hollingsworth was arrested at the scene and later pleaded guilty to criminal damage, affray, and causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal.
On Wednesday, January 24, he appeared at Nottingham Crown Court and was sentenced to a year in prison. After escaping major harm during the attack, Max, a two-year-old German shepherd with a stellar service history, is back on the beat.
“The human victims in this case were at home in what should be a safe place when Hollingsworth forced his way through a fence into their garden and began screaming and shouting outside,” Nottinghamshire Police PC Simon Nicol stated. They were obviously horrified by this and now had to live with the memories of what transpired.
“Fortunately for us and the wider public, Max has shown no ill-effects from the assault and has been going from strength to strength as an operation police dog. Dogs like him and their handlers do a fantastic job in tracking down suspects and protecting the public from harm and we won’t hesitate to take action against anyone who treats them in this way.”
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