![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/0_Police.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThe man was punched to the face multiple times by a number of the youths, while his dog was also kicked a number of times<\/p>\n
16:38, 28 Mar 2026Updated 16:39, 28 Mar 2026<\/p>\n
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A dog walker has been attacked by a group of ’15 to 20 young people’ in Bangor, County Down, on Friday evening who punched and kicked him and his dog multiple times – stock photo<\/p>\n
A dog walker was attacked by a group of ’15 to 20 young people’ in Co Down<\/a> who punched and kicked him and his dog multiple times.<\/p>\n Police are appealing for information regarding the incident, which took place in the High Street area of Bangor at around 7.50 pm on Friday.<\/p>\n It was reported that a verbal exchange took place between 15 to 20 young people and the dog walker as he walked up the street, before the man was punched to the face multiple times by a number of youths. His dog was also kicked a number of times.<\/p>\n The victim works with K9 Search and Rescue NI, and they have said they are “grateful” for the support shown on social media for the victims, but have asked that the matter is left with the police investigation.<\/p>\n They said: “K9 Search and Rescue NI can confirm that one of our members and their Search and Rescue dog were viciously assaulted in Bangor last night whilst off duty and socialising.<\/p>\n The PSNI is investigating (stock image) (Image: Jonathan Porter\/PressEye)<\/p>\n “Our member has received treatment at A&E, and the dog has been assessed by a vet.<\/p>\n “We are grateful for the support shown across social media. However, we respectfully ask that the matter is left with the police as their investigation is ongoing.”<\/p>\n MLA for North Down, Stephen Dunne, also commented on the incident, saying: “There has been a number of very alarming incidents of attacks, damage to commercial and church property and anti-social behaviour within Bangor City Centre in recent days and weeks, including this despicable attack last night injuring a gentleman and a rescue dog.<\/p>\n “I trust they both make a full recovery. I have been liasing with the PSNI to step up their patrols, Council’s Anti Social Behaviour team and the Street Pastors. There is no place for this type of activity anywhere across our local area and it must be stamped out, and those responsible brought to justice.”<\/p>\n A PSNI spokesperson said: “Police in Bangor are appealing for information following an assault on Friday evening, 27th March.<\/p>\n “A report was received at around 7.50pm of an ongoing fight involving a number of youths and a man in the High Street area.<\/p>\n “Upon arrival at the scene, officers saw a number of young people running off, most of them dressed in dark clothing.<\/p>\n “It was reported that, following a verbal exchange with approximately 15 to 20 young people as he was walking up the street, the man was punched to the face multiple times by a number of the youths. His dog was also kicked a number of times.<\/p>\n “Enquiries are ongoing and we would appeal to anyone who was in the area at the time of the assault and has any information, including dash-cam, CCTV or other video footage, to contact us on the 101 <\/a>number, quoting reference 1493 of 27\/03\/26.<\/p>\n “You can also submit a report or information online using the non-emergency reporting form via www.psni.police.uk\/makeareport, or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111<\/a> or online at www.crimestoppers-uk.org\/.”<\/p>\n Want to see more of the stories you love from the Irish Mirror? <\/strong>Making us your preferred source on Google<\/a><\/strong> means you\u2019ll get more of our exclusives, top stories and must-read content straight away. To add Irish Mirror as a preferred source, simply <\/strong>click here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The man was punched to the face multiple times by a number of the youths, while his dog…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[9,10,31651,13,14,6,11,12,15,16,5,30,7,8,65,66,67],"class_list":{"0":"post-409982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-co-down","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-latest-news","15":"tag-latestnews","16":"tag-main-news","17":"tag-mainnews","18":"tag-news","19":"tag-psni","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topstories","22":"tag-world","23":"tag-world-news","24":"tag-worldnews"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116312483253380890","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"PSNI](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/4_JS229185209.jpg\")
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