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CASTLE ROCK, Colorado (KCNC) — After a K-9 officer attacked a two-year-old and maimed her father, a Colorado family says they are facing hundreds of thousands in medical debt with no help from the county.
The Dean family says they were celebrating their twins’ birthday in the backyard of their Castle Rock home on August 11, 2024, when the K-9 jumped the fence and attacked.
“It was the twins’ birthday party in our fenced backyard. It was a perfect day, just celebrating our babies,” said the children’s father, Nick Dean. “The canine began to jump over the fence. I noticed immediately and yelled at the dog.”
That dog was Ragnar, a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department K-9 who lived with his handler, Deputy Zachary Oliver, next door. Dean says he sprang into action 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. And from there was three men, myself and two others, that jumped on the dog,” said Dean.
The fight didn’t go well for the men.
“We were losing,” Dean admitted.
The fight continued while his two-year-old daughter Lily was still being attacked by Ragnar.
“I couldn’t pull Lily, for she was still in his mouth,” said Dean’s sister Rachel DeWolf.
“When I was wrestling the dog, I could hear the cracking of her femur bone,” Dean recalled.
Dean and Lily were taken to the hospital with severe injuries.
One year later, in August 2025, a six-person jury in Douglas County found Oliver not guilty of misdemeanor charges of harboring a dangerous dog.
According to the 23rd Judicial District Attorney George Brauchler and the former attorneys for the Dean family, Oliver’s defense argued he was not responsible for the attack because, at the time the dog got away, Oliver was inside cleaning urine from the dog’s kennel, which was in the performance of his duties. A section of Colorado law grants protection to law enforcement regarding the actions of K-9s when they’re acting in the capacity of their duties.
After all was said and done, the Dean family was left with a life forever changed.
“I love being their dad. But today, I’m not able to participate in a lot of things that I used to,” said Dean tearfully.
The family has accrued $300,000 in medical bills. Despite a promise to support the family after the attack, Dean says Jefferson County has refused to help.
“We’ve received no help from Jeffco Sheriff’s Department,” said Dean.
CBS Colorado reached out to the sheriff’s department, which said it does not have a statement to contribute.
They considered a civil lawsuit, but they say no lawyer will take their case on a contingency basis, and they don’t want to rack up more debt.
“At every turn, we were told that there’s not a way to be restored. There’s not a way to win,” said Dean.
Now the family is reaching out to the community for help through an online fundraiser.
“It’s our goal that we don’t pass on this financial burden to our family,” said Nick Dean.
Friends and family who were at the party say they and the family have suffered tremendously, and they hope the community will come through for this young family.
“It takes a lot of vulnerability and hurt to come out and ask for help like this,” said a family friend.
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