Dog hit in face by Vacaville police officer removed from handler

VACAVILLE, Calif. - A K-9 that was seen captured on video while a Vacaville police officer repeatedly punched it during a training exercise has been removed from his handler.

Vacaville police say the dog was examined by a vet and shows no signs of physical injury.

The canine in question came to light on Monday when Roberto Palomino heard a dog in distress and he started recording video of what happened.

Palomino saw the officer repeatedly hit the dog in the face. Police say that the officer was just "correcting" the dog after the shepherd-Belgian Malinois mix, had just found so-called drugs as part of a training exercise but wouldn't give up a toy he got as a reward. 

Now, police said they plan to investigate.

KTVU's Henry Lee contributed to this report.