LAS VEGAS — A video circulating on social media appeared to show a uniformed Metropolitan Police Department officer kicking a police dog.

The video was posted Tuesday night on the Facebook page for LVEI, short for Las Vegas Emergency Incidents, and shows what was described as a police response in the area of Tropicana Avenue and Boulder Highway.

The 35-second clip shows a woman with her hands up as the camera pans to an officer forcefully struggling with the barking dog he was handling before striking it twice with his right leg or foot. The officer then walks with the dog toward the front of a police vehicle before the camera pans back to the woman and the video ends.

A Metro spokesperson said in an email Thursday the department was aware of the incident but did not answer questions about whether police were investigating.

”LVMPD is aware of the incident depicted in the video,” the department said.

The video had nearly 150 comments, more than 175 “likes” and was shared more than 85 times as of Thursday morning. Many of the comments accused the officer of mistreating the canine and tagged Metro’s Facebook page.

“@LVMPD WHY is that K9 Officer being KICKED by his handler?!” Facebook user Brittany Rodriguez commented on the post. Her comment as of Thursday was reacted to by 67 other users, the most of any comments left on the post.

The LVEI page posted a zoomed-in version of the video Wednesday and told followers it had forwarded the video to Metro and requested the department investigate the actions of the officer.

Gregory Conner, a former military police canine trainer and owner of Las Vegas-based dog training services The Doggie Dojo and MP K9, said Thursday it’s unclear from the video whether the officer in question mistreated the dog.

Conner said the dog in the video appeared to be engaged with something else, and that the officer pulled the dog away and used his knee to regain control over the animal. He added that it appeared as if the dog responded to a heel command after being kneed, indicating it was responding to the officer’s instruction.

“I didn’t see anything that was excessive,” Conner said when reached by phone. “Sometimes they (police dogs) transfer aggression toward the handler and they can be very difficult to handle at that point.”

Conner said most police dogs are trained to anticipate biting someone when used during an active situation, and their aggressivness can make them difficult to control at times. He warned it’s hard to fully evaluate the situation because of the length and quality of the clip.

“There wasn’t enough footage,” Conner said. “And those dogs can be very dangerous in situations like that.”

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