Police Officer Shoots Dog, Thinks it is a Mercy Killing

[Damieux]

This caught my attention because it happened in PA, so I snooped around for a couple more articles. Here is some additional information that I discovered:

1. None of the articles that I read referenced any tape or record of the phone call that the officer alleges he recieved informing him that the dog had been hit by a car.

2. The autopsy report showed no fractures or signs of trauma, and the county pathologist concluded that it did not appear that the dog had been hit by a car.

3. The 911 Center was unable to identify the owner, because the officer incorrectly read the dog's license number three times.

4. In part of the 911 tape, the officer could be heard laughing with a 911 officer about shooting the dog.

5. The officer left the corpse of the dog where he shot it. It lay there until it was discovered two days later by a neighbor.

6. After being suspended for shooting the dog, the officer took the 911 tapes (on which he was heard laughing) without permission from the police office. (The tapes were eventually returned.)

One last point about the dog owners: this occurred in rural Pennsylvania. Rural dogs are frequently kept outdoors (with dog houses, of course). This isn't particularly inhumane, and it certainly doesn't mean that the owners loved the animals any less.

Note: The articles that I read were all in the Morning Call (Allentown, PA).