These dogs are often mistaken for pit-bull types. Maybe one jump and the LEO spooked and shot.
Pits have a bad rap. Don’t blame the breed, blame the idiots who enable aggressiveness. A dog reflects the attitudes and behavior of its people. I’ve known a bunch of pits, and they were all great dogs, with one exception; but, then again, his owner was a complete reprobate.
Only by someone who doesn't know anything about dogs at all.
A Catahoula looks nothing like a pit bull, both in terms of jaw structure and body type. Catahoulas have narrow jaws; Pit Bulls have very wide jaws. Catahoulas have light frames, in contrast to the much heavier frames of Pit Bulls. Catahoulas are also significantly taller at the shoulder as well. In general, Catahoulas are not even colored similarly to Pit Bulls, although I'm sure there are exceptions.
Basically, the two breeds look totally different. Not that the officer would have been any more justified in shooting a pit bull, given the same circumstances.
I owned a Catahoula Leopard Cow Hog Dog a couple of decades ago, and she was the most intelligent dog I've ever had in my family. Catahoulas, in my experience, aren't particularly aggressive either.
This just happens too often, and it never used to. What a bunch of wusses police have become, to do this type of thing so frequently and readily!
To a cop of a certain mentality “dogs” is synonymous with “pit bulls.” Back before the public outcry endangered some local politicians’ jobs, some departments and some police academies encouraged using dogs as practice. There is some indication that the the US DOJ encouraged that sort of thing and the observation was that police needed to get used to shooting people in case of some sort of right wing terrorist uprising and dogs made a good substitute.