At about 10:00 p.m., an officer responded to the Meadowlark Apartments, to a report of a barbecue fire that was said to be rather large.
The officer walked around the building, and that's when they say a white pit bull belonging to a resident came after him.
"When the one officer arrived, he went around the back of the apartment complex and was charged by a pit bull, a white, full sized pit bull dog," said Myrtle Creek Police Chief Don Brown. "The officer got the dog stopped about five feet from him, the officer was talking to him and backing up, and as he started to retreat, the dog charged him again. The officer drew his duty weapon and shot the dog."
The dogs owner, Jessie Kamel, says Indy was a good dog, and can't believe that he would attack anyone.
She told KPIC News that she had just let the dog out to go to the bathroom, when she heard the gunshots.
[Interesting that there is no mention of putting the dog on a tie-out. She simply turned him loose into the apartment complex to run around.]
Jessie says her dog was good with people, and wonders what would have happened if it wasn't a pit bull.
"He was a great dog, I've had him since he was a puppy, he loves my children and he loved us," she said. "I feel like if it was a different dog, a different breed, they would have given him a chance and they wouldn't have just, started firing at him."
But, Chief Brown says officers are trained to take safety first, and non-lethal methods have not proven that they can stop a charging animal.
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| The owner turned the dog loose then went back inside |
"The officer had just been to a class earlier yesterday where there was a dog handler there, and the dog handler was explaining to the officers at the class that you don't spray a charging dog with cap stun, pepper spray, that it has very little affect on a charging dog. You're going to have to use lethal force to protect yourself," Brown said.
Brown says that officers train for this situation, and that there isn't anything else his officer could have done.
He said that once the dog charged a second time, the officer had to use lethal force to keep himself safe.
(KPIC - Dec 9, 2011)
