Detroit police officer shoots dead pit bull in its own yard after it got into a fight with her K9
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A pit bull was shot and killed by a Detroit K9 police officer after it got entangled with her own dog through a fence, sparking outrage on social media after video of the incident went viral.
Home security cameras captured the graphic footage from August 3 which shows a white pit bull in its own yard in a residential area of Detroit get into a confrontation with a police K9.
In the footage, the police officer appears to have trouble separating the two.
Detroit Police Department officials told TMZ that the pit bull bit down on the K9’s nose and refused to let go.
The image above taken from a home security camera shows a Detroit police officer struggling to separate her K9 from a white pit bull as they fought through a fence in a residential area
The officer appears to lose control of her K9 as the white pit bull confronts it from behind the fence
As the two dogs go at it, the officer reaches for her weapon and fires a bullet into the white dog’s face
The police officer then pulls out a gun and shoots the pit bull in the face.
The graphic video shows the white pit bull writhing in pain and twitching as it bleeds to death from the gunshot wound.
Detroit police told TMZ that there are no plans to discipline the officer involved.
DailyMail.com has reached out to the department for comment.
‘Her partner was being attacked and we demand that our officers protect not only themselves but their partners and citizens,’ Detroit Police Commander Darin Szilagyi told the Detroit Free Press.
‘At this point it was a clear and present danger; her dog was being viciously harmed.
‘It’s unfortunate it came to this, we don’t like to see any animal hurt.’
Szilagyi said it was the owner’s responsibility to keep the dog away from the K9.
‘I’m a dog lover, I own several dogs, I have a responsibility to protect the public from my animals, just like anyone else,’ Szilagyi said.
‘Keep your dogs in the backyards and this won’t be an issue.’
Detroit police said that the officer was looking for a gun that an armed suspect had left in the area.
The dog was seen writhing in pain and twitching before it died
A woman standing in the yard in front of the property (bottom right) watched as the shooting unfolded
The department also claimed that the officer had her dog on a leash.
The only way that the police officer could free her dog from the pit bull’s grip was to shoot it, according to the Detroit police.
Police also accused the property owner of illegally constructing the fence.
The viral video has sparked outrage online, prompting lawmakers to weigh in.
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan tweeted: ‘I am waiting to see what our elected Detroit Board of Police Commissioners will do about this.
‘The whole point of the Board is oversight of our police department, not looking the other way.’
Julian Castro, the former Democratic presidential candidate, tweeted: ‘A Detroit police officer shot someone’s dog that posed no threat inside its own fence after he lost control of his own K9.
‘This officer should be held accountable. He should be fired and prosecuted.’
Another Twitter user wrote: ‘Everybody about to hate Detroit police because they killed a dog. Sick it took an animal lie but now we all on the same page.’
One Twitter user was angry about the incident, saying that the dog died ‘horribly’ while in ‘spasms of agony and pain.’
‘THIS IS NOT OKAY,’ tweeted another Twitter user. ‘Watching this makes me sick to my stomach.’
Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib of Michigan tweeted: ‘I am waiting to see what our elected Detroit Board of Police Commissioners will do about this.’
Julian Castro, the former Democratic presidential candidate, tweeted: ‘A Detroit police officer shot someone’s dog that posed no threat inside its own fence after he lost control of his own K9. This officer should be held accountable. He should be fired and prosecuted.’
One Twitter user was angry about the incident, saying that the dog died ‘horribly’ while in ‘spasms of agony and pain’
Another Twitter user wrote: ‘Everybody about to hate Detroit police because they killed a dog. Sick it took an animal lie but now we all on the same page.’
‘THIS IS NOT OKAY,’ tweeted another Twitter user. ‘Watching this makes me sick to my stomach’
One Twitter user appeared to support the police, saying that the white dog ‘had its jaws on the K9 and was not letting go’
But another Twitter user replied: ‘There are ways of getting the dog to let go without shooting’
The video clip was first posted by an animal rights organization, Animal Hope and Wellness.
Detroit police have been sued in years past by suspects who said officers fatally shot their dogs without justification.
Last year, the city paid out $60,000 to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit brought by a woman whose three dogs were killed by officers who raided her house in a marijuana search.
The woman who brought the lawsuit, Nikita Smith, was arrested for marijuana possession, but the charges were later dropped when the arresting cops failed to appear in court, according to Reason.
One of the officers involved in the Smith raid shot 80 dogs during the course of his career, according to an investigation.
Two other cops linked to the raid said they had shot ‘fewer than 20’ and ‘at least 19’ dogs over the course of their service on the force.
Last year, the city paid $250,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by Kenneth Savage and Ashley Franklin.
They claimed Detroit cops shot their three dogs while the pets were behind an enclosed, 8ft tall fence.
The officers shot the dogs so that they could take potted marijuana plants in the backyard.
In 2017 alone, Detroit police shot 54 dogs while conducting drug raids. That’s twice the number of dogs shot in Chicago.
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