City denies teen received ‘life-altering injuries’ from police dog bite in lawsuit defence

City officials have denied a 17-year-old girl’s claim she received life-altering injuries when a Winnipeg police dog bit her, arguing her lawsuit over last year’s incident should be rejected.

The teen, whom the Free Press is not naming because she is a minor involved with a police matter, seeks unspecified damages from the City of Winnipeg, in a statement of claim filed in the Court of King’s Bench in March.

The teen, described as “a small, slightly built girl,” claims she was “attacked, arrested and detained” by several Winnipeg Police Service officers around 1 a.m. on June 4, 2025.

The girl’s court papers say that in order to detain the teen, officers first deployed “a large, vicious and dangerous, non-human, canine animal,” which the lawsuit calls the “beast” in subsequent references.

In a recent statement of defence, city lawyers broadly deny all of the girl’s allegations and say the court should dismiss her lawsuit.

“The city denies that the plaintiff is entitled to any of the relief claimed… and therefore requests that the honourable court dismiss the claim with costs in favour of the defendant,” reads the city’s court filing.

The girl claims use of the dog was “unnecessary and amounted to grossly excessive force and violence” because she didn’t try to get away.

The girl sought treatment in hospital, which included stitches and plastic surgery to wounds on her leg. She says in her lawsuit she has numbness and loss of use of her leg, insomnia and nightmares.

The reason why police detained the girl is not included in the court filing.

The City of Winnipeg has filed an application under the Youth Criminal Justice Act to be able to legally access records held by the Winnipeg Police Service that are potentially relevant to the claim, the statement of defence says.

The city’s court papers say it reserves the right to file an amended statement of defence to further respond to the girl’s allegations, after the YCJA application is decided.

City lawyers and the girl’s lawyer, Ian Histed, have set a pretrial conference on the matter in November, according to a letter Histed filed in court earlier this month.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca