Houston police K-9 bit Kerry Lee Thomas for about 43 seconds during 2021 arrest
Federal court records document a Feb. 22, 2021 Harris County police-K9 bite in Houston; a 2026 Fifth Circuit ruling dismissed bystander-liability claims against two deputies on qualified-immunity grounds.
Incident summary
During a Harris County Precinct 1 constable response in Houston, Sgt. Robert Johnson released a police K-9 on Kerry Lee Thomas. The Fifth Circuit record says the dog bit Thomas on the right arm while Johnson handcuffed him and remained on the bite for roughly 43 seconds. Local reporting and the civil complaint describe lacerations, puncture wounds, muscle damage and lasting scarring. Thomas survived.
Thomas sued the estate of K-9 handler Robert Johnson and deputies Eric Bruss and Wayne Schultz under 42 U.S.C. §1983. On Sept. 2, 2026, the Fifth Circuit reversed the denial of qualified immunity to Bruss and Schultz and rendered judgment dismissing the claims against those two bystander officers because the court held that bystander liability was not clearly established under these specific facts. That appellate ruling does not amount to a finding that the dog bite itself was constitutionally permissible, and it does not convert Thomas’s allegations against Johnson’s estate into adjudicated facts.
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Primary record used by BiteDB
The Fifth Circuit’s Sept. 2, 2026 opinion states that Sgt. Robert Johnson released his police dog during Thomas’s arrest, the dog bit Thomas on the right arm, and bystander deputies Eric Bruss and Wayne Schultz did not stop the bite. The opinion’s body-camera timeline places the bite at about 7:27 p.m. and describes the dog remaining engaged while Thomas was being handcuffed.
Open original source ↗What BiteDB does not infer
Breed is recorded only at the provenance level shown above. Missing injury details, dog history, ownership facts or circumstances remain unknown unless a reliable source establishes them. This record may be updated as police, animal-control, medical, court or follow-up reporting becomes available.