Dog shot by Florida City police officer

Local 10 (Miami) ^

[Altariel]

FLORIDA CITY, Fla. -A woman from Florida City is outraged after she said a police officer knocked on her front door Tuesday morning and shot her dog when it ran outside.

The dog's owner, Gillian Palacios, told Local 10 News that the officer knocked on her door at 832 SW Seventh St. to inform her that she had left her car door open.

She said her 2-year-old, 40-pound bulldog-mix Duchess, ran outside and was shot three times in the head by the officer.

RAW FOOTAGE DISCLAIMER: Video contains graphic content that some viewers may find disturbing.

Palacios said the officer told her, "Your dog charged me," and then left, telling her that Animal Services would be by to pick up the dog.

"She was curious. She wasn't barking (and) she wasn't growling," Palacios said. "There was no reason for him to think she was aggressive in any way."

The Palacios family fosters and rescues dogs in the area and said it was barbaric how the officer killed their rescue dog.

"There were a million things he could have done other that shoot her three times in the head," Palacios said.Florida City police spokesman Officer Ken Armenteros confirmed that one of the department's officers shot a dog Tuesday morning, and said the police department is "gathering all the facts at this time."

"We don't have the luxury of hind sight," Armenteros said. "We have to use the information that is given to us in a split second. So, the officer has to make that decision with the information that he has available."

[5th MEB]

That great big, huge, cop shot that little bitty dog.
If that had been me at that door I would have just taken a step back and said woahh doggie, then done a quick draw and pulled a wienie or biscuit on the pup.
That stupid cop should not be on any police force, nor should he be allowed any where near a firearm.
Very poor risk assessment on the idiots part, hate to see his response to a legitimate threat; violent criminal on the loose in town, his response, NUKE the town from orbit, it's the only way for ME TO BE SAFE. I thought police forces training included Risk Assessment classes, seems strange to me that even as little as 30 years ago this sort of thing rarely happened. Either their getting a different type of person for cops (pussies with guns), or they are falling down seriously on their training.

[Las Vegas Ron]

Went back to watch the vid again. In the very beginning after the dog runs out the owner appears to stumble out the door, looks like she may have been attempting to control the dog and keep it from running out the door as it did but didn’t catch it in time.

[freekitty]

This has got to stop. Our pets are not a shooting gallery.