Pit bull bites Dayton police officer at crash scene

A Dayton police officer was bitten by a pit bull this morning while investigating a rollover crash at the old Belmont High School.

Police were called around 6:30 a.m. to a field off the intersection of Enterprise and Nordale avenues after a 1999 Chevrolet Blazer flipped.

Officer Jason Olson was checking to see whether any of the three occupants — driver Joshua Nguyen, 19, and passengers Taylor Knight and Jeffrey Cleveland — were injured, when Cleveland’s dog began to act aggressively toward the officer, according to a Dayton police report.

Olson attempted to run backwards to get away from the tan pit bull when he tripped over a clump of dirt and fell to the ground. The dog, which was not on a leash, then bit the officer on the right arm, causing a three-inch cut and several scratches, the report stated.

According to the report, Cleveland at first made no attempt to stop his dog, but finally controlled the dog and put a leash on it after his dog bit the officer, saying he didn’t think his dog would do that. When Cleveland was told he would be placed under arrest because his dog bit the officer, he then blamed the officer and said: “The dog wouldn’t have done that if the officer didn’t attack my dog.”

Dayton police Sgt. Colin Patterson said Olson was treated and released from Miami Valley Hospital and that the dog was in the care of the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center. Injuries in the crash were minor. Two occupants, including Cleveland, were treated and released from Grandview Medical Center.

The crash happened when Nguyen, who told police he wanted “to play with” the SUV he just bought, went off-roading in the field on the site of the former Belmont High School. Nguyen flipped the SUV after hitting a concrete curb around the track.

A representative of Dayton Public Schools, which owns the property, told police the district wanted all three to be charged with criminal trespassing.