A dog. A public dog park. A federal police officer. A gun. A dead dog. County police see no problem.
The Baltimore Sun has a very disturbing article about the shooting of a dog in the Quail Run Dog Park in Severn. From reports, a Siberian Husky was running in the fenced in area off his leash (which is allowed). A federal police officer (whom County police have declined to identify) entered the area with his leashed German Shepherd. The dogs began to get aggressive and the officer asked the Husky’s handler to call off the dog. Before the handler could do anything, the officer drew his weapon and shot the dog.
A spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Police Department said no charges will be filed and investigators found no evidence of criminal activity.
Certainly discharging a weapon in a public park merits some investigation. Certainly shooting and killing a dog in a dog park with little warning merits some investigation. Is this a case of one cop looking out for another? Unfortunately, it seems so and until Anne Arundel County Police come forward with something more than a “case closed” statement, this rightfully should be another black eye on the County police force. They say there is a thin blue line amongst the brotherhood of officers. That line was crossed.
This is amazing! I must say I am not surprised..but I am outraged! How can this happen? Surely there is some kind of checks and balances against this kind of thing?? I hope that enough people holler about so that Leopold says they need to investigate. I am sending an email to his office today.. I think you should put info up for others to follow….
Barb
That is insane. No investigation + no names + no justification for the family of the dead animal = no common sense.
I for one, would be afraid to use the dog park if I knew this was acceptable for police ( off duty, and using this park as a citizen) to be in authority to discharge their weapon aimed at an animal. The article states the owner hadn’t the chance to react to the encounter! What had he jumped in front of the animals, and been injured or killed? Would we close our eyes then? What would have been the result had that bullet ricocheted and hit a human or another animal? This cop most certainly overstepped his authority, and should be charged with misuse of a weapon, Criminal animal abuse and endangering the public!
Mr. Leopald, I certainly hope that you act on this and see that justice is served!
Monica Good
Pasadena
If it was my dog I would be at my lawyer today , I would be sueing the officer for shooting my dog and then the county for not investigating the issue this is total BS , I got to dog parks all the time the dogs play ruff some times and some owners belive that there dogs should not play ruff but there dogs they like to play some times it gets a little heated but you pull them back or take them out. There is no reason why this dog had to be killed, I am thinking if this was me I would be upset and them mad as hell and they would not get away with it , if I had to sue the guy personally I would take him for everything he has and then go after his job, If he pulls a gun on a dog for playing with his dog whats to say he would not pull the gun and shoot someone that pisses him off . This needs to be investigated or as far as I am concerned the police in AA County will get no respect from me or others cover up if you want this only go one more step why people do not turst the police
This is a private dog park created by the Quail Run HOA and open only to residents. So the guy better live in that HOA otherwise he was trespassing.
I live just up the road from here, and I’ve got pit bulls on an invisible fence. Would this cop have shot at my dogs had they barked at him on the sidewalk?
I am sickened and disgusted with this situation. That police officer obviously needs to learn more about dog behavior and has NO business handling a dog himself. He also either has no idea what he is doing as a police officer or is a blatant abuser of his authority. Either way, this needs more investigation.
What on earth made him think it was acceptable to shoot a gun in a public park??? Were there children around?? Good God, what if ????
If he will aim and shoot his gun at a dog he doesn’t trust, what the hell will he do in a situation with humans???
Speaking of children, how does this make the police force, in general, look to them?
I go to dog parks all the time and have witnessed so many dog fights. And no dog has ever had to get shot to break it up. The fact that this guy displayed such a lack of common sense is pathetic, embarrassing, and appalling. The fact that is it being blown over is, well, I have no words.
Leopold has a statement on his the AA County site saying that he has requested the County police investigate the incident. I wrote to him about it, and asked how can they be trusted to investigate themselves!
Well, obviously you all are very fond of pets, which most people are. Who wouldn’t love “mans best friend.” I do believe that most people that comment on this incident fail to look at all of the facts and just allow public media to blow everything out of proportion. A lot of the comments are very narrow and not well thought out. Come on, do we really put regular people under arms and expect them to uphold the law, and not be able to rationalize what is considered levels of force…not likely. Police Men and Woman are sworn into Duty for a reason and aren’t just out there running a muck. Really? charge him with Misuse of a weapon and endangering the public??? Cops are trained to “shoot to kill” not just pull their weapons and hope they hit something, otherwise the dog would not have passed. (which I’m sorry to hear about.) I would challenge the general public to be fair and impartial when throwing out ideals and or thoughts that they really have no knowledge about. Cops helping Cops? Everyone now days are sue happy. People tend to take the focus off the facts and the actual events, and try to dig for something deeper.I member growing up in the south where you have the right to take another human beings life for trespassing. We have one Police officer that ran into a sticky situation, and now everyone wants him treated like a threat, or a man that would come to your house and murder your family or pets. Come on people, rationalize your comments and see both side to the story and not look at the people that protect our communities like felony. thanks, and for the record, this is just another opinion.
Brennan are you for real or just trying to get a ball rolling? Nothing you said made any sense.. at least not to me. As far as the facts go, the cop killed an animal before the owner had a chance to get to it. There had to have been other ways to handle the situation. It says nothing about the dog attacking the man only that the dogs were being aggressive with each other, and so he shot it. Soooo lets see what does he consider aggressive?? It does not say attacking, or biting, it says getting aggressive. Sounds to me like the cop is bit too full of himself.
Brennan, anytime a gun is discharged there is a chance of incidence happening….I know a retired baltimore city police officer who was blinded due to a stray bullet from a fellow officers gun. Anytime an officers weapon is discharged there should be an incident report and investigation. This is how it’s been done in the past.
By the way, we don’t live in the south, where shooting someone for trespassing is just fine. If this is how your mind is set, perhaps you need to return there.
unless there are more facts in this case, it’s excessive force, nothing here indicated a life threatening or dangerous situation, the owner was responding to a request to secure his dog, before he could the dog was shot. doesn’t indicate if dogs were engaged in fighting , too much force too soon. not to mention tarnish on reputation of a community who is pet friendly. i woudn’t want to move there and take my dogs to that park for fear of something similar happening to them. Brennan there are way too many pet lovers out there who will disagree with you. and no matter what will or will not come of any legal ramifications to the officer, HE owes the dog owner an apology( even if he’s found in the right, which i personally won’t be able to agree with but not my call) the owner is greiveing the loss of a companion no matter what the circumstances…officer buy the man another dog! it would be the compassionate thing to do…. you still have your dog
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=142251502461794
NOEL:
so is it possible YOUR pitbulls are the ones who have been attacking dogs in our area?
Brennan,
I saw through your message that it is not about the fact that a god was killed but that people are too quick to judge the officer.
Barbara,
read the report, there was reports of the dog biting in it. don’t be so narrow minded and go for the jugular at every situation.
Monica,
We are, in fact, in the south. The Mason-Dixon line is to our North…and you are allowed to shoot a person on your property in Maryland thanks to the castle doctrine
THe report says that the officer CLAIMED the dog bit. Animal Control did not take a report BECAUSE there were no bite or scratch marks on either dog nor on any person. Absent that, it is not an Animal Control case, it is a police case of someone shooting a dog.
I may pretty opinionated, and I may even admit to a big mouth.. but a narrow mind Mr/Ms.BCPD is not one of things that I am. The facts the way I have read them so far, are that the dog was shot for no damn good reason! The shephard, the cop, nor the cops wife had any scratches, bites, bruises or other marks to indicate an attack by a dog. If the loose dog was coming after his dog or them and he is an a officer with little bit of sense why didn’t he just go back out the gate? He had to have still been right by it..
Sorry but he is an ass… he could have taken other measures. And if he did indeed have to shoot the dog why did he have to shoot to kill it?? Surely he could shot it and stopped it without killing it..Sorry about the language but you are way off the mark!
The cop was off duty! He should act like any other civilian would in this situation… without a gun! I don’t think that shooting a dog is listed in the Dog Park Rules as a way to settle any incidents that may occur in the park. I’d rather have a vet bill for a dog bite than a dead dog.
Brennan,
did you get your facts straight yet?
There were no injuries to the other dog, or his owners.
About the shooting….we aren’t talking about someone entering private property forcefully and unwelcomed with the intention of harm. Two words: PUBLIC. PARK.
So this guy really thought the Husky was going to kill his dog,then his wife and then him !?
I think this man is looking for a job with Michael Vick !
SHOOTING IN A DOG PARK WITH ANIMALS & KIDS, RIDICULOUS, STUPID IN MY BOOK, THE ASS HOLE COP COULD HAVE HIT A CHILD OR ADULT, BUT NO, MR COPPER BRINGS OUT HIS WEAPON & SHOOTS AN INNOCENT DOG. & HIS BUDS,POLICE, SUPPORT HIM TOO… GO FIGURE. REGARDLESS OF WHO IS WHO, THE ANIMAL IS DEAD DUE TO A COP USING HIS GUN IN A DOG PARK. SO THE DOG WAS OFF LEASH, WHICH IS ALLOWED, SO WHY DID THE COPPER NOT GIVE THE OWNER TIME TO GET HIS DOG!!! OH NO, HE WANTED TO PLAY SHOOT’EM UP!! STUPID COP