California authorities said a meter reader acted in self-defense when he killed a toy poodle after striking it with a metallic rod. But Shirley Newman insisted her 6-pound pet never posed a threat to the worker. “He could have taken his meter stick and shooed her,” Newman told CNN. “Had he caused a laceration I would have said self-defense. But he shattered her jaw and broke her face.” The incident happened on April 16 in Rancho Santa Margarita, a community in Orange County. According to Newman, her four-year-old dog, Calisto, snuck out of a gate that surrounded the family’s garage....