Kingsbury said Nampa officers are authorized to use deadly force when their lives are threatened or they are exposed to great bodily harm. That is what police say happened Monday when two dogs attacked an officer as he knocked on a partially open door at a home at 2nd Street North and 13th Avenue North.
“That’s what I would have felt (too) in this particular situation,” Kingsbury said Wednesday, after showing reporters video of the attack, which took about three seconds and ended with one dog being shot and the other moving away. “That’s a call he had to make in less than three seconds.”
Kingsbury also said Wednesday that the officer involved, who has been with Nampa Police for about a year, did not want to shoot a dog.
“He is not heartless ... this bothered him,” Kingsbury said. “This was done out of self-defense. We empathize with the family ... they lost their pet.”
The two officers sent to the home shortly after 5 p.m. Monday were both wearing cameras, which capture audio and video, on their shirts after getting a anonymous call about an hour before from someone asking police to check on some kids living at the home.
Nampa officers are expected to audio and videotape their interactions with the public. Each patrol officer wears the camera, called a CopVu. Nampa Police have been using CopVu for more than a year, officials said.
The cameras show the officer, holding a flashlight, knock on the door and ask if anyone is home for several seconds. You can hear a dog barking in the background a few times before both dogs bound out of the door. The officer had to back up several feet, with both dogs on him, before he pulls out his gun and fires three times at the light colored pit bull/mastiff mix. The other dog moves away at the time of the shot. That whole encounter took less than three seconds. The attack also caused the officer to drop his flashlight prior to the shooting.
The other video is from the officer who was attacked. It shows a flurry of teeth and claws prior to the shooting.
On Wednesday, Kingsbury showed reporters the officer’s pepper spray holder and bottle, which were on the officer’s right hand side — opposite his gun holster — and both had teeth marks from the dog that was shot.
Police officials released the videos Wednesday so the public could see exactly what the officers went though at the time of the shooting, Kingsbury said.
The report that led police to do a welfare check in the first place turned out to be “unfounded,” Kingsbury said.
The second dog involved, a pit bull/Chesapeake mix ran away after the shooting. The dog was not located as of early Wednesday morning.
Monday’s incident marked the third time over the past five years Nampa Police shot a dog during a call for service. In the two previous instances, the dogs were injured but not killed, officials said.
Boise police have shot at dogs four times since 2009 during calls for service, according to department records. In three of those cases, the dogs were killed.
BODYCAM FROM OFFICERS:
(Idaho Statesman - Sept 26, 2012)
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