Columbia County, OR — If you are a mentally ill, unarmed, and distressed inmate, it is entirely acceptable for officers to force their K9 to shred you to pieces for standing peacefully against a wall—according to Columbia County Sheriff Jeff Dickerson.

"It starts with a bark," Dickerson told the Columbia County Spotlight. "It's similar to everything we do. There's a whole range of force options out there that a deputy can use."

The graphic video of Columbia County Sheriff's deputies siccing their Belgian Malinois on mentally ill inmate Christopher Bartlett is now the center of a controversy as Dickerson claiming it shows cops acted appropriately.

"Incident reports indicate Christopher Bartlett, an inmate who had been combative with deputies and may have a history of mental illness, needed to be moved to a different pod in the jail," the Columbia County Spotlight reported. "Dickerson says the August incident with Bartlett, who resisted and was documented to be combative, was reviewed and deemed a justifiable use of force. In fact, Dickerson says, it went exactly as it should have, with Lars seizing the inmate, and the inmate being removed 'without serious injury.'"