GEORGIA -- A Thomaston police officer was forced to make a split-second decision Tuesday morning, shooting and killing a pit bull dog when the animal suddenly attacked.
The dog's owner, Julius Witt Strickland, 24, 210 West Walker St., was charged with allowing a dangerous dog to roam at large.
"This dog was a mean one," said Bobby Ellington, the city's animal control officer. "He came charging at me full speed. He wasn't barking or growling or anything. It was just a silent dead run and I had to shoot him in order to protect myself and the other officers.
"If there had been a child out in the dark that morning, that dog would have killed a child," Ellington said. "It would have killed an elderly person. This was a big dog - an 80 pound Mastiff Pit Bull mix - capable of crushing bones."
Lt. T.J. Fields and Ptl. Charles Cannady were called to a Plum Street address just before 3:30 a.m. after a man called and said the dog attempted to attack him whenever he came outside and was keeping him trapped inside.
The lieutenant and the patrol officer arrived moments later, but when they attempted to leave their patrol vehicle to knock on the door, the animal barreled around a corner, attempting to attack them, and forcing them to retreat to the safety of their vehicle.
The officers then called Ellington for help.
"I went in the house to make sure the man was okay and as I was coming back outside, that's when the dog ran at me," Ellington said. "The animal was about two feet away from me when I fired the shot, but I didn't have any other choice."
Ellington said minutes after the shooting, the owner, who lives three blocks away on West Walker Street walked up.
"The owner said he had turned the dog out earlier in the evening and that the animal didn't come back," Ellington said. "I don't understand why a dog like that would have been turned loose anyway. These animals need to be penned. We're just not going to put up with that sort of thing in Thomaston."
Ellington said reports of vicious animals are all too frequent.
"I wish these dogs would just get banned in Georgia," he said. "This was an extremely dangerous animal and dealing with an animal like that once a year is enough for me."
(Thomaston Times - June 23, 2004)
