San Jose police K9 Ronin rips earlobe off suspect's ear during arrest

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A San Jose police dog ripped into a man's face, biting off his earlobe as officers sent in the K-9 to investigate a laundry room fight involving a kitchen knife, exclusive body camera video obtained by KTVU shows.

Fernando Villanueva-Galvez still hasn't fully recovered from the police dog attack on Oct. 21, 2023, according to his Oakland attorney, Angel Alexander, whose law firm got the video from the Santa Clara County Public Defender's Office.

She sued San Jose police on her client's behalf last month.

The video shows officers sending in the dog, named Ronin, to search Villanueva-Galvez's apartment on Northrup Street, where the then 19-year-old is heard screaming in pain from the back room. Ronin's handler, Officer Eliseo Amaya, calls off the dog five times, but the animal doesn't heed the orders, the video shows.

Eventually, the officers move in closer to where Villanueva-Galvaz is in the hallway of his apartment. His face was streaming with blood. A chunk of his ear had been bitten off.

"His injuries were so horrific," Alexander told KTVU. "Police dogs are not supposed to behave that way. They're not supposed to attack your face."

The city attorney's office did not immediately respond for comment.

However, in police reports obtained by KTVU, Anaya wrote that he sent the dog in because Villanueva-Galvez had just stabbed someone and wouldn't comply with orders to come out of his apartment.

In court documents in prior K-9 cases against the SJPD, city attorneys have argued that the officers' actions were reasonable.