CALIFORNIA -- Police on Saturday defended their actions after an officer shot and killed a male pit bull following a probation search of a house on Pine Hollow Road.
The shooting occurred around 5:35 p.m. when police arrived at the house to search it, Concord police Sgt. Matt Morrissey said. Upon trying to enter, police were startled by a 6-year-old male pit bull that came charging at them, Morrissey said. Police initially fired bean bags, a non-lethal projectile that is meant to stun the animal into submission.
Instead, the dog continued to charge, and an officer finally fired his handgun, Morrissey said. The animal died instantly, he said.
"It's unfortunate. We never like to resort to that action," Morrissey said. "But people have to understand how powerful these dogs really are."
Police did not make an arrest after the incident, and declined to specify why they were searching the house, other than to say that it was part of an ongoing investigation.
"When you are on probation, you are subject to search and seizure anytime day or night," Morrissey said.
No officers were injured in the incident.
The incident marked the third time in a week that a pit bull has been involved in violent activity in central Contra Costa County. A blue nose pit bull is under quarantine after attacking a Chihuahua mix on Helen Drive in Pleasant Hill on Wednesday, and a man stabbed a pit bull to death on West Boyd Road in the same city Thursday after two pit bulls attacked his dog as he walked it on a leash.
(San Jose Mercury News - June 11, 2012)
