Family says cop neighbor’s K-9 attacked their 2-year-old daughter and left them with mammoth medical bills of $300K

A Colorado family is facing hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills after their police officer neighbor’s K-9 escaped and mauled their toddler daughter. 

The Dean family was celebrating their twins’ birthday in their Castle Rock backyard on August 11, 2024, when a massive black dog jumped the fence and charged straight at their two-year-old daughter, Lily. 

The dog, Ragnar, was a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department K-9 who lived next door with his handler, Deputy Zachary Oliver. Lily’s father, Nick, told CBS News he spotted the dog and rushed to protect his family and guests. 

‘I was up here on our upper porch, and I sprinted down the stairs and essentially met the dog after the dog had attacked my daughter Lily, and he dragged her across the grass in the backyard,’ Nick told the outlet. 

The dog latched onto the two-year-old’s leg and ‘whipped her like a rag doll,’ family friend Lindsey Speer, who was at the party, told FOX31. 

From then on, Nick said three male party attendees piled onto the dog in an attempt to stop the vicious attack.

‘When I was wrestling the dog, I could hear the cracking of her femur bone,’ Nick recalled to CBS News.

Lily’s father was also maimed while trying to save her, leaving them both with severe injuries that they say continue to affect them two years later. 

A GoFundMe set up by the family to cover their mounting medical bills said Lily suffered deep lacerations across her stomach, along with a punctured femur.

Nick sustained injuries to his chest, neck, back and hip and continues to struggle with PTSD and other lasting psychological effects, per the fundraiser. 

‘It’s just the combination of not feeling strong enough to protect my family, and the pain,’ Nick said. 

‘The chronic pain is like having an operating system going on in the background that just never shuts off, and it’s tiring,’ he added.

Prosecutors charged Oliver, but a jury cleared him after his lawyers argued his county contract protected him from criminal liability. 

Oliver has since left the sheriff’s office, while the K-9 was retired from duty. The Deans said the dog and its handler moved away from the neighborhood nine months after the incident.

The family also hoped the county would help cover their medical costs, but the family says they are now saddled with $300,000 in debt. 

‘When the criminal proceedings turned into nothing, we thought, well, of course, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department is going to do what’s right by our family,’ Nick told the outlet.

A Jefferson County attorney told the Deans’ lawyer that the county does not use taxpayer money to cover claims when it has no legal liability. 

The family’s GoFundMe had surpassed $67,000 in donations as of Monday.