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A District police officer shot and killed a dog leaving the owners in total confusion.
A District police officer shot the Pit Bull mix "Precious" last Friday night.
"I had the dog here and I had the dog like that and I kept saying 'I had the dog, I had the dog'," said owner Sloane Lewis.
Lewis says as officers ran past her home in pursuit of a suspect, Precious started to bark and crawled under the front gate. As she crawled, her leash was tied to the fence and she only got to the front step. Lewis also said as she pulled Precious back, an officer opened fire.
Lewis showed photos that showcased several bullet wounds on Precious. She also displayed the blood splattered pants she wore at the time of the shooting.
"He could have shot me too cause I had the dog between my legs," she said. "He looked at me and said I finally got that (expletive) this time."
Rosie McGriff said she saw the officer shoot Precious. "I said, 'why you shooting the dog, cause the dog is not harming you', all the dog was doing was barking."
D.C. Police have drawn criticism for the shooting of dogs in the past. Commander Robert Contee reviewed the photos of Precious. Contee said the incident was under investigation.
"The dog approached the officer aggressively and the officer fired in fear of his life," said Contee.
Sloan Lewis and her partner Michael Bailey treated Precious like their child. They said her violent death devastated them.
"I still go through the day thinking that she is there, or you go through the motions of when to walk her or when you bath her," Bailey said.
This incident is interesting though bec. Precious was shot at months earlier (there is still a bullet is still embedded in the stairs), and the officer said something like, "I finally that that (expletive)” making it seem more like a vendetta against Precious, which bears investigation on a higher level than at the precinct or district (“long blue line”) level.
Additionally, I think stress reduction training should also be considered. There is a personal stress device called an emWave (Google it) which a colleague with a law degree and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology uses to work with ex-offenders with substance abuse issues and histories of trauma, neglect, and every kind of abuse imaginable. She says they respond extremely well to it, and that it’s a remarkable biofeedback device. If I could, I’d buy one for every police officer, but perhaps it (probably circa $100 wholesale) or similar devices can be investigated.
This time a dog died. Next time it might be a fractious teenager acting out for no reason by doing things such as keying cars, scaring and annoying people. If anyone doesn’t have control over him or herself, it would be easy to become enraged at some of the antics described on my CapHill MPD egroup. I know the police are under tremendous stress. Let us see to it that they get all the training needed to prevent such incidents from occurring again, and also be sure the officer involved here gets needed help. - Joanna Harkin (also see: www.dogsdc.blogspot.com)
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