Joshua Naggs behind chaotic arrest on Wellington Rd, Mulgrave

A crook who couldn’t be brought down by tear gas or tasers in Mulgrave finally met his match in the form of a police dog which wouldn’t back down.

Naggs was seriously injured by a police dog’s bite. Generic photo

A reckless thief was seriously injured by a police dog after he managed to withstand being hit by two tasers and two rounds of tear gas.

Joshua Naggs, 28, fronted the County Court on Friday to plead guilty to charges including resisting an emergency worker on duty and burglary.

The court heard Naggs was mauled by a police dog, and consequently almost bled to death, at “an extraordinarily chaotic scene” in Mulgrave on August 22, 2019.

Covert police found Naggs behind the wheel of a Subaru, which he’d stolen earlier that morning, parked in a bus stop on Wellington Rd just after 10am.

Naggs’ head was slumped down and he was thought to be asleep.

Police parked unmarked police cars in front of and behind the Subaru to prevent Naggs fleeing, then threw tear gas through the Subaru’s back window.

Naggs, who didn’t have a license, sat up and started the Subaru, ramming it into the unmarked police car in front.

The officer in the car behind him then also drove forward to block Naggs in.

While wedged between the two police cars, Naggs continued to rev the Subaru’s wheels and refused officer’s instructions to turn the car off and get out.

Police deployed more gas into the Subaru, which appeared to have no effect on Naggs, the court heard, leading to an officer firing a taser into Naggs’ back.

The taser also appeared to have no effect, causing another officer to fire a second taser into Naggs’ shoulder.

But the crook continued to rev the Subaru, leading to a police dog being set on him.

Naggs was then apprehended and taken to The Alfred for surgery.

Earlier that morning the unruly criminal had grabbed a meat pie and ice cream tub at a Ringwood petrol station, then asked the staff member for a spoon, before strolling out without paying.

Naggs had then proceeded to climb a fence behind the petrol, break into a parked Subaru, and reverse it through the fence.

The day before he’d stolen another car, and on August 9 he had burgled a Yallambie property after kicking in the front door.

He had also been seen on CCTV trespassing at a Templestowe home with a sledgehammer and had burgled cars in Ferntree Gully and Croydon.

The court heard Naggs had spent almost eight of his 10 years as an adult in custody after a troubled and unstable childhood, during which he left school during Year 8 and began using drugs at age 13.

Naggs’ lawyer tendered a medical report to the court detailing the injuries his client received from the police dog at his arrest, pointing out Naggs had been unarmed and asleep when police approached him.

The lawyer said Naggs had almost bled to death from the dog bites and had suffered permanent vascular and nerve damage in his hand and arm, which left him with constant pain and diminished sensations in his left side.

Naggs, who appeared before the court via webcam from prison, showed the court how he had been left unable to straighten his fingers.

Judge Sarah Dawes said Naggs had spent enough time behind bars but needed support to be released from the community due to his poor rehabilitative prospects.

Naggs will be sentenced on Thursday.