Dog dies after being shot by Metro officer

Jen Lawson

Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2004 | 11:10 a.m.

Metro's fourth officer-involved shooting of the year occurred Tuesday, but instead of a citizen, an officer shot and killed a family's elderly dog in a fenced yard on 10th Street near Bridger Avenue.

Officers were dispatched to the area shortly after 11 a.m. on a report of a burglary in progress in a small apartment house in the 300 block of 10th Street, where Linda Davis and her husband, Dan Olson, live.

To get to the back of the apartment building, Lt. Chris Hoye said the officers climbed a chain link fence and stepped into Davis and Olson's yard, where they were surprised to find a dog.

"A dog came out of a doggy door and came after the officers," Hoye said.

One officer fired a shot, hitting the dog, a 12-year-old blue heeler dingo mix named Dog.

The dog ran back into the house through the doggy door and died, Hoye said.

The would-be burglar whom police were looking for got away.

Davis said she received a call at work from an officer who said her dog had been shot and she had to come home immediately.

This morninig, Davis said in a phone interview that she doesn't understand why police entered her yard. It's surrounded by a chain link fence that stands four feet on the sides and about six feet in the back. A wrought iron fence stands inside the yard itself.

Dog, who is black and white, has arthritis in his back legs and has a hard time getting around, but Davis said he does have a loud bark.

"There's no way he jumped at anybody," she said through tears. "He couldn't hurt anybody. I'm trying to be fair but it's really hard."

The police told her the officer already had his gun out because he was on his way to investigate a burglary in progress.

"Dog startled him and they said it was more of a reflex," Davis said. "If (the officer) hadn't been all hyped up, he could have talked to Dog and he would've rolled over and (the officer) could have scratched his belly."

After he was shot, Dog scurried back into the house and was on his way to the bedroom, where he always slept, but died before reaching the room.

Davis said her husband, Olson, adopted Dog as a puppy and was very attached to him.

"He named him Dog so that everyone who walks by can call him by name," she said. "He loved him."

The Davis family also has a black female shepherd mix named Paulie whom they adopted about six months ago. She had been abused so she rarely went outside through the doggy door, Davis said.

Sandra Boyd, who lives two doors down, said Dog wasn't threatening. She said she had stacked some tree branches against Davis' fence recently and the dogs didn't bark at her.

"He walked really slow, like he had arthritis," she said while standing next to Davis' fenced-in back yard. "He could barely move. Why did he kill the dog?"

A life-size figurine of a black dog decorated her back yard where the shooting occurred, perhaps showing the couple's fondness for dogs. A large sign reading "Guard dog on duty" is posted on her front door.

Boyd said she didn't understand why the officer didn't use pepper spray, his baton or a Taser gun.

"The black one protected the black and white one," she said. "The only thing I can think of is he got scared and shot his gun without thinking."

Officers with Metro's internal affairs bureau were called to the scene after the incident. They are investigating the shooting.

A representative of Metro's professional standards division said Tuesday's shooting is counted as an officer-involved shooting even though it didn't involve a person.

As in all officer-involved shootings, the officer was placed on paid leave pending the outcome of the investigation. The officer's name will be released after 48 hours.