An Auckland police constable had to pepper-spray a pitbull that was attacking the teenage boy out walking it at the weekend, Radio New Zealand reports.
Constable Ben Klinkenberg was called to a North Shore park on Saturday after witnesses heard screams from a 17-year-old walking his father's pitbull.
The dog latched on to and tore Klinkenberg's protective vest and the 28-year-old needed stitches in his punctured arm.
The officer and teenager were taken to hospital and police said the young man would need plastic surgery.
