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An innocent disabled woman was viciously attacked and bitten by a police dog as she put out her rubbish bins.

Desiree Collins, who had her left hand amputated as a child, screamed in pain as the dog latched on to her good arm and wouldn't let go.

Sickening bodycam footage from an officer at the scene, shows the terrified 52-year-old in shock with the strong police dog attached to her arm.

The footage shows in the seconds before the attack the five-year-old K9 officer named Gabe, walking ahead of his handler police officer Thaddeus Schmidt, who was holding a lead in the town of St Paul in Minnesota, USA.

The dog went behind a set of large bins at about 6.30am and the screaming began.

St Paul police Chief Todd Axtel said in a written statement: "What happened to Ms Collins was a terrible accident that should not have occurred.

"I am sorry it happened and that she was injured.

"As a department, we wish we could go back and do things differently. Unfortunately, we can’t.

“What we can do is apologise and take responsibility … and learn from the incident so we can continue to work to prevent it from happening to anyone else."

Ms Collins has filed a lawsuit in federal court seeking financial compensation of an unspecified amount.

She needed treatment at hospital for wounds to her leg and arm and was unable to change her own dressings, as she did not have use of her other hand.

According to the Star Tribune, Ms Collins is still receiving counselling after the incident.

Her attorney Andrew Noel said: "What you have here is a completely innocent person taking out their garbage … and a K-9 simply wasn’t controlled.

“It should never have happened. She’s struggling emotionally with this incident."