[Emperor Palpatine]

Fire the cop.

This is getting monotonous anymore.

Any cop that shoots MY dog is a dead man, period.

[ClearCase_guy]

he threw him down the stairwell in an attempt to injure the dog

I'm not sure that's standard procedure.

[driftdiver]

Not enough no-knocks scheduled so he had to find a dog to shoot

[Doctor 2Brains]

The dog made “a threatening move to his pocket”...

[riverrunner]

Dog on dog fights can be tough to control and it is very easy to get bit by accident. I have broken up a few of them.

Trying to hold down a big dog is tough also its very hard even if you are the owner if the dog doesn't want to be held down is mad scared ect.

I could very well see the dog trying to bite the holder.

Was the officer justified to killed the dog not enough infomation for me to call it one way or the other.

It is easy be a back seat quarter back when you were not there.

[Blue Jays]

The other thing to keep in mind is this was police gunfire at a well-attended festival presumbably with throngs of people crowded around. Seriously?
Heck, spray the dogs with cold water and that'll stop a fight. No need for flying bullets.
The officer didn't have pepper spray, a baton, a taser, or anything else available to him to escalate the amount of force truly needed for resolution?
When all one carries is a large hammer...everything begins to look like a nail.

[Immerito]

http://dcist.com/2010/09/spokesperson_officer_knocked_owner.php

Spokesperson: “Policeman Knocked” Owner Off Dog Before Detaining, Shooting It

We recently received an email from a spokesperson for the owner of the dog who was shot and killed during today’s Adams Morgan Day festival. According to the spokesperson, the animal’s owner — known simply as Aaron — is currently too “rightfully distraught” to speak directly with the media.

Here is the full statement by the spokesperson, including a description of what happened this afternoon:

Parrot is [a] two-year-old dog for whom we have cared for almost a month. He has never bitten another dog and is regularly walked along 17th street during the busiest times of day without incident. He’s extremely friendly.

Today, there was an unexpected scuffle between Parrot and a poodle. Aaron, subdued Parrot, who was wearing both a leash and a harness. To do so, he placed his hands in Parrot’s mouth and held it open, which he has done when Parrot gets overexcited when romping in the apartment. As it had in the past, this calmed Parrot down.

At this point, the policeman knocked Aaron off of Parrot. The policeman put his knee in the middle of Parrot’s back while pulling Parrot’s forelegs behind him, as one would do with an armed criminal. Without waiting to determine whether this technique would calm Parrot, the policeman grabbed Parrot, lifted him off the ground, and brought him to the top of the concrete staircase. He threw Parrot over the banister, down twelve steps, and onto the concrete floor. Then, the policeman stood at the top of the stairs, drew his weapon, and executed Parrot. Aaron cannot recall the number of shots fired.

This photograph, which was taken by DCist commenter Darcycat1 “maybe a minute” before the shooting, depicts the portion of the spokesperson’s story in which “the policeman put his knee in the middle of Parrot’s back.”

Obviously, we will have more on this story as it develops.

UPDATE: Here is an early reaction to the incident from Metropolitan Police Chief Cathy Lanier, excerpted from an email exchange with Ward 1 D.C. Council candidate Bryan Weaver by TBD/ABC 7:

I don’t know all of the facts at this point so it is very difficult for me to comment beyond the facts that I have been given. All I know is that there is one dog who was attacked by the pit bull and 3 people, including a K9 officer, that were bitten by the pit bull. The officer involved is assigned to AC Burke so I would ask that he provide you with additional information as it becomes available.

Clearly, I am a dog lover as well and never want to see an animal harmed. We will keep you posted.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@dcist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

[Joe 6-pack]

WOOOF!

The Doggie Ping list is for FReepers who would like to be notified of threads relating to all things canid. If you would like to join the Doggie Ping Pack (or be unleashed from it), FReemail me.

[thefactor]

It's amazing how one incident can generate as many different versions as we have read in this article.

Thank the Lord we have all the FReepers who were there when it happened and can rightfully condemn the officer.

[Hacklehead]

If 2 dogs start fighting, separating them is all that is required. A trained “handler” should know that. The lesson here is never give a cop even 1/4 of an excuse to shoot something. They can’t resist such an opportunity.

[arthurus]

Dogs are legitimate tools for the release of day to day tensions of our heroes in blue. No officer will ever suffer so much as a tsk-tsk for shooting a dog. I think they are allowed to shoot something or someone when the tension builds up to what an officer feels is an intolerable level. Then he can shoot someone to relieve it. It is good, in such circumstances that there is a dog in the vicinity for him to shoot. He would suffer a pang of regret if he had to shoot a person. If he shot a person when there was a dog present his chief would frown and that would increase the officer’s level of felt tension...

[verity]

This thread is not about the doggy.

[Immerito]

DC’s animal control and protection laws:

http://www.animallaw.info/statutes/stusdc8_1801_13.htm

(4) The term “Mayor” means the Mayor of the District of Columbia or his designee.

5) The term “owner” means a person in the District of Columbia who purchases or keeps an animal in temporary or permanent custody except as provided in § 8-1804.

1. The Mayor is the determiner if an animal is considered dangerous or potentially dangerous

2. animals are only considered dangerous based on unprovoked situations

3. dogs proven to be dangerous or potentially dangerous and pose a public threat, upon given notice to the owner, must first be impounded.

4. the Mayor may HUMANELY DESTROY a dog if: the owner fails to register the dog, pay the animal control fees if impoundment was required, or the owner forfeits the dog to HUMANE DESTRUCTION

5. if a dangerous or potentially dangerous dog, as deemed by the Mayor, causes serious injury or kills a human being or domestic animal without provocation, then the owner will be FINED $10,000.

****

(d) Except where the animal is an undomesticated and dangerous animal such as rats, bats, and snakes, and there is a reasonable apprehension of an imminent attack by such animal on that person or another, whoever commits any of the acts or omissions set forth in subsection (a) of this section with the intent to commit serious bodily injury or death to an animal, or whoever, under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to animal life, commits any of the acts or omissions set forth in subsection (a) of this section which results in serious bodily injury or death to the animal, shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment not exceeding 5 years, or by a fine not exceeding $25,000, or both.

CREDIT(S)

(Aug. 23, 1871, Leg. Assem., p. 135, ch. 106, § 1; Aug. 20, 1994, D.C. Law 10-151, § 102(a), 41 DCR 2608; June 8, 2001, D.C. Law 13-303, § 2(a), 47 DCR 7307; Dec. 5, 2008, D.C. Law 17-281, § 108(a), 55 DCR 9186.)

****
The officer who shot Parrot did not follow the law.

By the way, for the information of any D.C. Freepers:

from: http://hrla.doh.dc.gov/hrla/cwp/view,A,1384,Q,574045.asp

If Your Dog Bites:

Secure and control your dog. The victim may be afraid of your dog and your dog may be excited.

Provide your name and phone number for the victim. You may be asked for proof of your dog’s vaccinations. You can get this from your dog’s veterinarian.

Report the incident. Call animal control to report all animal bites. (202) 576-6664

****

And, if you’re really interested in viewing the police’s lawyer’s version of events:

http://www.washingtonblade.com/2010/09/20/gay-cop-says-dog-shooting-was-necessary/

Otherwise, you may find that the comment left by DCNative61 sufficient:

“It doles out unsubstantiated claims and other crap that is contradicted by the police report. Bad journalism, unfortunately.

Looks like the officer is using The Blade and the gay angle to prep for litigation.

HERE WAS MY REPLY:

Lou, Lou, Lou … I’m not accustomed to the Blade being used as a tool to affect the public narrative. Most of the mass of this article is someone’s lawyer – SURPRISE! – laying out some very lawyerly talking points to see who bites. I read the title of article and expected completely different content. This is not news; this is pre-litigation preparation of the battlefield.

I’ve known Dale for more than a decade. He’s doing what any good lawyer would do … and you fell for it.

Just because Officer Fike is a dog lover doesn’t intrinsically make him qualified to break up and subdue a dog spat on the street. Also, just because he knows how to handle a police dog that is trained to be aggressive, again, doesn’t necessarily qualify him to handle this situation better than the owner or foster parent. This is all unrelated pap that Dale is throwing out there because it affects the appearance of the narrative. Did you notice how few FACTS Dale threw in there?

C’mon, Lou!! An officer used lethal force in a crowd, where the witness accounts vary widely. Even the police report says that Parrot “apparerad [sic]to be out of control” … APPEARED. Even Officer Fike wasn’t as sure as Dale seems to be!! Further, the report also CLEARLY states that the smaller dog’s owner “was standing to the side holding a white poodle.” What that means, Lou, is that the dogs were APART during the narrative described by the police report. So, Dale’s decription of people who “rushed to the scene tried to free the poodle from Parrot’s mouth” is meant only to provide evocative justification for Officer Fike’s actions. Unfortunately, Dale’s input does not comport with the official police report.

This still smells like a bad shoot. So, I’ll look forward to hearing from the police union or Fike’s grandmother for more ‘facts’.

You can do better than this.”

[Immerito]

http://www.ilovedogs.com/2010/09/rescue-dog-shot-dead-by-cop-at-crowded-street-festival/

Rescue Dog Shot Dead By Cop at Crowded Street Festival

Was last weekend’s shooting death of a dog by a police officer during a crowded street festival in Washington, D.C. justified?

On Sunday, a Poodle mix and a Pit Bull-Shar Pei mix named Parrot got into a scuffle at the Adams Morgan Day festival. Aaron Block, Parrot’s owner, told the Washington Post that he had separated the dogs and was trying to calm Parrot when police officers arrived.

In a statement, Block said Officer Scott Fike knocked him off of Parrot. As a photo taken by witness “Darcycat1” shows, Fike then kneed Parrot in the back and yanked the dog’s front paws underneath him.

Lifting the dog by his neck and back, Fike then threw Parrot over a banister and down a 10-foot concrete stairwell. Block says that when his dog – who “doesn’t handle stairs well” and was 12 to 15 steps away from Fike – staggered to his feet, the officer shot and killed him.

“The officer drew his gun in an unnecessary act of cowboy gunslinging law enforcement and shot my dog amidst a crowd of thousands,” Block said. He had been fostering Parrot through Lucky Dog Animal Rescue.

The police report (PDF) tells an different story, stating that Parrot charged toward Fike in the stairwell. According to the report, Fike, “[f]earing for his safety and the safety of the large crowd that had gathered, discharged one round from his departmental issued 9MM Glock striking the pitbull causing it to fall to the bottom of the stairs. The pitbull later expired.”

Two festival attendees agree with the police report, although neither witnessed the actual shooting. Tony De Pass, a former D.C. police officer, told the Washington Post that Parrot snapped at Fike as the officer held him down, prompting Fike to throw the dog down the stairwell. (The police report says Fike was not bitten, but only scratched on his hand and wrist.) Soleiman Askarinam, the owner of a nearby restaurant, said it took several officers to get Parrot under control, and he felt police “did a good job” in controlling the situation.

Many more witnesses dispute the report. Lucky Dog Animal Rescue reports that one unnamed witness said Parrot appeared to be stunned from the fall and did not charge the officer. The witness said the dog had just gotten to his feet when Fike drew his gun and opened fire without provocation.

“This I saw because I was standing at the doorway of the business where the dog was killed,” the witness said. “As I turned away, in one to three seconds a single shot rang out. I then went out on the platform above the stairwell, and saw the dying dog’s head was nearly on top of the floor drain next to the locked gate at the bottom of the steps, facing away from the steps.”

Other horrified witnesses included 9-year-old Neda Changuit and her parents, who said Parrot appeared to be subdued before Fike threw him over the banister. Changuit’s mother watched “with shock and total disbelief” as Fike calmly fired at the dog. “I thought initially that it couldn’t possibly be a real gun,” she told the Washington Post.

Sushi, the Poodle mix involved in the fight – and who some eyewitnesses say initiated the scuffle — is recovering from two broken bones and a large gash. Her owner, Sheila Martins, told the Washington Post, “the police did the right thing because at that moment, the dog, it wasn’t controllable. I could tell like how aggressive the dog was. If he would start running around, he would attack somebody.” Martins did not witness the shooting.

Parrot is not the only dog to have been questionably shot and killed by a police officer in recent months. As we reported last month, an off-duty officer shot dead Bear-Bear in a Maryland dog park after he got in a scuffle with his dog. The officer, Keith Shepherd, was charged with two misdemeanors: Animal cruelty and discharging a firearm within 100 yards of an occupied home.

In another case this past Sunday in St. Petersburg, Fla., a Chesapeake Bay Retriever and a Rottweiler were both shot to death by what their owner called a “trigger-happy cop” after they scuffled with an unleashed dog that attacked them during a walk. Even after the Chessie was shot and lying on the ground, the officer, Slobodan Juric, shot her two more times. An internal affairs investigation is underway.

Meanwhile, “in memory of a fantastic dog,” Lucky Dog Animal Rescue has created Parrot’s Fund. Donations will be used to rescue bully breeds in high-kill shelters and to educate the community “on the many wonderful attributes of these dogs.”

You can demand that the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department investigates Parrot’s shooting and takes appropriate action against the officer by signing this petition. (Be aware that this links to a petition targeting the Metropolitan Police Department. There is another petition on Facebook that targets the wrong Scott Fike.)

PHOTOS: luckydoganimalrescue.org, voices.washingtonpost.com