CANADA -- A woman's lawsuit against the Ottawa police for killing her two pit bulls has been dismissed.
In a decision released Tuesday, Ontario Superior Court Justice Denis Power found he was in no position to "second guess" the decision of tactical officers to shoot Lisa Olszewski's two dogs, Cash and Oz, during a search of her Bells Corners townhouse on Sept. 14, 2006.
In a decision released Tuesday, Ontario Superior Court Justice Denis Power found he was in no position to "second guess" the decision of tactical officers to shoot Lisa Olszewski's two dogs, Cash and Oz, during a search of her Bells Corners townhouse on Sept. 14, 2006.
At the time, police were searching for Olszewski's exboyfriend, Trevor Provost, the subject of an arrest warrant.
Power found the officers had no choice but to react when confronted by the two growling, snarling dogs in a stairwell. Oz was shot eight times, Cash was shot five times. Police also used an Arwen - an "impact weapon" used in crowd control that fires a large rubber ball - and a Taser to bring Oz under control after he was shot. Police had tried to contain the dogs by giving them Milkbone treats, but were unsuccessful, according to Power.
"In my opinion, they were confronted with an attack or attacks by two vicious pit bulls, an attack that put them at serious risk of injury or worse." He noted that "a pit bull can be a very dangerous animal," even if Olszewski viewed them as her "beautiful, well-behaved pets."
"Not surprisingly, the pit bulls acted in a manner consistent with their generally accepted characteristics," Power wrote. "In my opinion, the police were entitled to adopt strong measures to protect themselves. This would include shooting to kill."
Power found that police had an honest belief that Provost was in the house and some of the officers believed Oz and Cash were trained as attack dogs. While police showed little respect for Olszewski's property, the type of raid they carried out was "not a tea party" and the force used was reasonable, he concluded.
Power accepted that the officers had no intention of killing the dogs, although he said it seemed reasonable they might have considered a strategy to deal with them after detonating two distraction devices, firing six gas canisters into the townhouse and breaching the door in full gear, including gas masks.
Olszewski had been suing the Ottawa Police Services Board for $266,000.
(Ottawa Citizen - March 2, 2012)
