California man taken down by K-9 in front of IHOP, witness video goes viral

ROSEVILLE, Calf. (KTVU) - A man was arrested outside a Roseville, Calif. IHOP after being taken down by a police dog in front of several restaurant watchers at breakfast.

The Saturday morning arrest of Ryan James Heater, 24, was captured on video by witness Victor Alarcon and posted on Facebook, which by Wednesday, had more than 15,000 shares and 10,000 comments.

Officers responded to the pancake restaurant in the 100 block of North Sunrise Avenue during breakfast hours after getting reports of a man acting erratically, threatening staff and jumping over the service counter.

According to Alarcon, Heater was looking for his wife who was an employee at the restaurant, KCRA reported.

“[He] started walking through the kitchen, in and out, continuously looking for his wife. And so, eventually he found her,” Alarcon told the Sacramento station. “He started punching the swinging door. He started punching it and kicking it, trying to break it.”

One of Alarcon's friends stepped in.

“Eventually, one of my friends, who is a Marine, was able to pull him away, take him outside and when he was outside, that’s when the police arrived,” Alarcon said.

Police said an officer and his K9 partner, Lance, were the first to arrive and met Heater outside of the restaurant. Heater then began threatening the officer and moved toward the officer and the K9.

In the video, Heater is seen moving toward the officer and K9 while. At one point, the shirtless and barefoot Heater raises his arms and quickly brings them down as he continues to move toward the officer and K9.
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Heater is seen struggling with the K9 before the officer comes over, grabs him from the back and pushes him to the ground. Another officer runs over to the fight, keeping the suspect on the ground. Two more officers then run over to the struggle.

In the video, three of the officers are seen holding the suspect down while the fourth officer holds onto his K9 partner.

“This K9 and this officer did exactly what they were trained to do,” Roseville police spokesperson Rob Baquera told KCRA. 

Heater was booked on charges of resisting arrest. One officer sustained a minor injury, police said. 

Last year, Roseville police officers deployed K9s a total of 307 times, including for narcotic searches.