Can I sue or press charges on a officer or police department who killed my dog?

Question

One afternoon we tied up my dog in the front yard. Some how he got loose and ran into the next door neighbors yard. They had a visitor over who owned a small dog. My dog started chasing his dog around thier front yard. The visitor was home alone and did not recognize our dog so he called the local police station and sd there was a dog at large. Minutes later the neighbors teenage sons arrived and saw what was going on and since they knew my dog they grabbed him by the colar and started walking him to my front door. At the same time two officers arrived and yelled at one of the boys to let go of my dog. My neighbor advised he new the dog and that everything was okay that he was just going to return him to me. One of the officers yelled at the boy and sd "no! Go inside now!" So he did. As the boy let go of my dog the officer tried to aproach my dog and my dog barked and started running towards him the officer pulled out his gun and shot him 3 times and he died. Where was animal control?

Answer 1

i would sue.this is appalling.

not only should you sue the cop personaly but the police department the county the state and anyone else u can think of. they are all responsible for what the police do

Answer 2

omg that is pretty sad ..but why didnt you go out there if you were watching your dog chase around the other dog for 2 minutes ? And yeah thats kind of weird animal control didnt come .

Answer 3

I'm sorry for your dog's death and I would be outraged of the officers actions.

Well you can't press charges. First of all put your self in the officers position, you don't know the dog, you don't know if the dog is a stray or a K9, it may have diseases the officer does not know of. I'm not saying your dog does, what I'm saying is that the officer only knew that it could be endangering other neighbors.. The officer simply felt endangered by the dog.

When a officer tell you something, for example: "let go of the dog and back a away" you should do it. The officer will try to maintain control, clearing pedestrians nearby. Then the officer should call animal control.

And again I'm sorry for your dog's death.

Answer 4

Someone would have had to complain that it was dangerous.

Even the cops have animal control come and cart the dog away.  

I just can't see the cops shooting the dog if the neighbor had control of it, especially since the kid was at your front door. I also can't see the dog running towards the police officer.  The dog would be freaked out and like any wild animal, run away in the opposite direction, (unless it was rabid.)  The cops would have let the kid return the dog so they can go on their merry little way.  There must be something else to this story. If you went to court with this info, you will definitely need a lot of witnesses to back you up.

Answer 5

NOPE

Answer 6

I would have shot him 4 times.

Keep your dangerous dog on your own property next time.

Answer 7

Sorry to here about your dog.  If you want a dog you have to be a responsible pet owner and provide an enclosure that protects your dogs from getting out and getting hurt.

Tying an animal is not kind or effective as you can see.  Perhaps you can sure yourself for not providing a safe place for your pet.

If any animal charges a police officer, if they feel threatened they should be able to shoot it and sadly kill it.  Many people die each year because of dogs that are out of control.  

If you sue the police, you will probably be sued for not providing a safe environment for your pet, and a myriad of other charges.

I would morn the dog and move on, and learn from the whole incident.

Answer 8

Sorry, your dog acted aggressively towards on officer, there really isn't too much you can do.

Being a dog lover myself, I am not happy about your situation.  But unfortunately, a officer is justified. Especially with the facts.....dog barking and running at them.

I actually worry about the same thing with my dog. He is a 110 black lab. Extremely friendly and would have no problem running up to an officer. Someone who is scared of dogs would not see a friendly dog running at them, they would see a 110 pound beast.... So I make sure he is very secure in the yard...just so he never gets lose and there are no misunderstands.

As for animal control, I agree with the person below me. I live in a city with close to 500,000 people, animal control closes at 5pm and the pound is a dump. I hate it. I work as an officer in a much smaller town and we have far more coverage from our animal control division.

Answer 9

I dont think you could sue because the officer will say it was self defense.

sorry. =/

Answer 10

The problem here was getting to control the dog. The dog did bark and run at it. Since the boy had the dog under control, the cop should not have told the boy to let go until he had the dog by collar. I honestly think that is really, really foolish that the cop had the dog under control and then he let it wild.  This is if he was even supposed to deal with the dog and animal control wasn't dispatched to do that. However, if there is no animal control in your area (or if the cop was told to handle the dog) , he had the right to deal with the dog, but  he was supposed to take it to an Animal Control Center, or a pound. He could have even just returned the dog to you if you were in the area, although he's not really supposed to. . He's supposed to have it taken to be tested for rabies and such, and then return it back to you.

He was not supposed to shot the dog. However, me may have been defending himself, as the dog did bark and run at him, so he might have been acting out of instinct, but shooting him should have been a last resort.  You should get his name from the police department and report it either directly to the department through a report, or report the officer to animal control, and if the officer is found to have wrongly shot the dog, disciplinary action will be taken.

Im also sorry about your loss.

Answer 11

Criminal charges are out of the question, because there is no evidence that the officer had any malicious intent in shooting the dog.  

You can and should contact a lawyer immediately to look into a civil lawsuit, but if I were you I would not get my hopes up.  Time is of the essence as tort lawsuits against governmental entities usually must be pursued within a very short period of time - in some states as few as 10 days.

There is probably a triable issue as to whether the officer was negligent in the way he handled the situation.  Specificlaly, the officer was okay in shooting the dog when it was running towards him, but the initial action of telling the boy to let go of the dog [which was apparently no threat] may have been negligent.  You wouldn't necessarily win the case, but based on the facts you describe, you would probably make it to a jury, at least in my state.  The officer's defense is going to be that he did what a reasonable and prudent officer would do in this situation, that he was following standard protocol in trying to ensure the neighbor boy didn't get injured by the dog, etc.  You would respond that there was no evidence the dog was dangerous, the fact that the animal was under control weighs against any evidence that the animal was dangerous at the time the officer told the boy to release it, that the cop should have conducted further inquiry before ordering the dog released, etc.   It also is going to turn on some facts that aren't listed here - what did the neighbor say when she called in [e.g., did she say the dog looked rabid?  that it was acting dangerously?] ; and, perhaps more importantly, what size and breed was the dog?  if this was a large dog that potentially could have killed the boy with a single bite, it is less likely that the officer was negligent.  If this was a small dog that couldn't even have done any damage, then it is more likely that the officer was negligent.

Just looking at the facts you have listed here, those facts would persuade me of the officer's negligence if I were on the jury, but I get the feeling that others might not agree.  So even if you made it to a jury it would not necessarily be a winner.  It is a borderline/weak case from a liability perpsective, but if it were my dog, personally, I'd sue them just to send them a message about the situation and to make them reconsider their policy.

Your real problem is that you lack significant damages.  In most states, you would only be able to recover the replacement value of the dog - i.e., however much it costs to buy a new dog.  You would have a better claim for damages if you had witnessed this, in which case emotional distress damages would come into play.  Assuming in your state your only recovery is the replacement cost of the dog, it is doubtful that any lawyer would want to get involved in the case.

You should still consult with a lawyer.  On the legal side, it may turn out that your state allows greater damages than just replacement of the dog.  On the factual side, it may turn out that the officer was following some sort of department policy that turns out to be seriously flawed, in which case the argument for negligence is much stronger.

The critical thing to understand, and the thing that a lot of the other commentators seem caught up on, is that - once the dog was released and running towards the officer, the officer was justified in shooting it for self-defense purposes.  The negligence - if any - was in ordering the kid to release the dog.

Answer 12

I'm not too impressed by animal control in my area.  My experience is that after 5:00pm they are unavailable, and you're lucky to get them to respond to anything prior to that.

Usually the police are required to handle animal calls (just another job description to add to the resume).  

If an animal attacks a police officer, then yes, that officer is justified to use a reasonable amount of force to stop the animal and protect themselves.  Would this include lethal force, absolutely.

I doubt you would be able to pursue any criminal charges against the officer.  Call the DA's office and talk to them about it if you want a definite answer.  As far as suing, anyone can sue anyone for anything.  There are enough lawyers that will take any case out there.

In some jurisdictions you could have been cited for not controlling your dog.