Utah cop again charged with assault for misusing police dog May 12, 2021 FacebookTwitterEmail SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Salt Lake City police officer has been charged with aggravated assault a second time for ordering a dog to attack someone who complied with officers’ orders, prosecutors said. K9 Officer Nickolas Pearce was charged Tuesday with lifting up his K9 Tuco so the dog could bite a woman who was in a suspected stolen vehicle in 2019, according to charging documents. The latest charge resulted from an investigation by the Salt Lake County District Attorney's office into the city's misuse of police dogs. Prosecutors say the woman followed police orders to turn off the vehicle, throw out the keys and put her hands out the window. She was ordered to get out but remained in the car. She instead kept her arms outside the window and “was not making any threats or aggressive moves towards the officers," according to charging documents.