- A former suburban Atlanta-area cop, who directed a police dog to bite a man’s arm, has been charged with violating his oath as a police officer.
- Prosecutors said the former Georgia cop unlawfully commanded the canine to attack a man who did not pose as a threat.
- The police canine aggressively ripped significant large chunks of flesh from the man’s arm, according to a federal lawsuit filed against the city of Alpharetta.
A former suburban Atlanta-area police officer has been indicted on felony charges after prosecutors say he unlawfully directed a police dog to attack a man.
A Fulton County grand jury on Tuesday returned an indictment against former Alpharetta police officer Michael James Esposito. He’s charged with aggravated assault, aggravated battery and violating his oath as a public officer when Travis Moya was seriously injured in July 2021.
A working phone number for Esposito could not be immediately found, and no attorney who could comment on the charges was listed in court records. Alpharetta’s assistant city administrator declined to comment, citing pending litigation, but confirmed that Esposito had left the police department. Alpharetta is a suburb north of Atlanta.
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Moya in July filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Alpharetta, the police chief and several officers, including Esposito. That suit remains pending.
According to that lawsuit, Moya’s family called 911 to request an ambulance and gave no indication that he had committed a crime, had a weapon or was in any way threatening. Several officers including Esposito, who was the handler for police dog Ares, were sent to the home.
Esposito was the first to arrive and his body camera video shows Moya standing in his driveway with his wife, the lawsuit says. Moya’s wife walked over to Esposito, who remained in the street, and said Moya had been breathing hard and crying, that he had punched a…
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