Our Dog Shot By County Cop - Maryland - Page 3

The bench warrant was for my step son for back child support.  He had given our address, but he did not live with us.  In fact my husband told the police that day where they could find him and to our knowledge as of today they have not picked him up!  We are in mourning and are at a loss for this senseless murder!

Sharon Mattia

Hughesville, MD

I notice the dog's choke collar was cut in two. I'm wondering if this happened with the first shot, then the dog was loose, and the office would have had some justification for doing what he did?

Given his prior history, I doubt it, though! I hope his superiors crack down on him BIG TIME!!

Some of these idiots shouldn't be out on the street, let alone carrying a gun. Give 'em a badge, and they think they're God or something... :( 

Exactly Brun. This man is suppossed to be trained in self preservation and not put himself in the line of danger. Have a little foresight. He sees the dog, sees it is tied out, simple, don't put yourself in the dogs reach idiot! Clearly the only danger here was his inability to think clearly and his right to bear arms. Serve and Protect! Yea Right!

A child could have assessed the situation better.

I'm not cop bashing as my boyfriend, more than one family member and many many friends are officers. Some people just can't handle that amount of responsability without letting it get to their head.

Dont get mad, get even..do it legally though.

All he had to do was notice the dog was near the back door and not go there.  He had already tried the front door - it was only a paperwork served visit - he didn't need to go "into the dogs' space" in the first place.  Since he did, he initiated the contact - then he only needed to take one step back - the dog was TIED.  Or use his baton if he needed to hurt the dog - or mace/pepper spray - why shoot the dog 7 times?????  Obviously he intended to kill the dog.  He needs to lose his job, go to JAIL for trespassing, damaging "property" if that's what they want to call your dog - he was YOUR property, on YOUR property, under control (tied up)!!!!!!  He also needs to lose any right to EVER carry a gun, or serve the public again - and go to anger management councelling!!!!!

molly

Hang on, I would like to clear something up here. Sharon, You stated - "The bench warrant was for my step son for back child support. "  Do you mean that there was a warrant for his arrest? If so, and the officer had a reasonable suspicion that thie man was hiding in your house, then he quite possibly had probable cause to make entry depending on the laws of your state. I doubt that was the case however as a I have never served an arrest warrant at a residence without another officer present. Are you clear and certain on what this documentation was? I know it doesnt make a difference in the loss of your dog but, if the officer was there to arrest him, and he thought this man was in the house hiding, I understand why he would have gone to different doors & windows. I would have, however, backed away from the dog nomatter what. That was a stupid move. An order to appear in court (summons) or child support hearing decision, is not a bench warrant. Please clarify for your own benefit.

Again, sorry for the loss of your wonderful looking dog.

<>Max'smom  you should get email address for the police dept and newspaper and ask people to write

<>them how they feel about this or what they think Should be done to this officer

Not sure why this is on 2 threads, here's what I posted on the other:

and Nobleschaft, making a comment about killing a police officer's family makes you complete trash in my book.

Ok,

This is a delicate situation no doubt. I do feel sorry for the dog, because in the dogs eyes they don't recognize cops. The dog only thought a person that shouldn't be there was, and he acted. I'm sorry he was killed.

 Now, with that being said, most of the people on hear have no idea about serving warrants or all that's involved in it. It was a last known address on a wanted person and when the officer was trying to do his job, he was bitten by the animal and reacted. Officers do use deadly force when it is an animal that can do damage, such as a GSD of the size in the pictures. This is covered under deadly force in my state for example, wherein the law says it is authorized to stop seriously bodily injury from occurring.

 Those who say how bout pepper spray, while you have a dog hanging on your leg, need to go fill out an app and show everyone how its done. We do not risk serious muscle damage by going through a force continuum on dogs. It's no different than when we show up on a pit bull run with an aggressive dog that's biting someone for example, we don't yell stop, then baton, then pepper spray, then call for backup, while someone's getting bit. We shoot the dog. People, are more important, than dogs.

 I say that, and believe me, I'm sorry that the dog was killed. I truly am. It's a bad situation, I'm sure they loved their pet very much and I'm sorry it happened. Truly. It's a bad situation for all and I'm sorry it happened.