Woman complains that police shot her brother's dog, which was attacking man at the time it was shot

Nashua police rapped for killing pit bull attacking man on city street

NEW HAMPSHIRE -- Tina Bennett was screaming and covering her ears. She couldn’t stand to listen to the whimpers the dog was making seconds before it died in the middle of Chestnut Street Wednesday morning.

Nashua Police shot and killed Buddy, a 3-year-old pit bull, who attacked a city man around 11 a.m. close to the bike path that crosses Chestnut Street near West Hollis Street.

 

Bennett might feel differently if the dog had been latched on to her leg.

Bennett said the police officer who fired the fatal shot was too quick to pull his gun and fired much too close to her. Police said the officer made the right decision in a split second because he feared for the victim’s safety.

 

Bennett was walking Buddy, her brother Michael Bennett’s 60-pound brown-and-white pit bull, near the bike path when the dog attacked 54-year-old John Goba. Two bike patrol officers nearby heard screaming and found Goba on the ground struggling with the dog, police said.

 

Bennett said Goba has a history with the dog and has taunted it before. He walked close to the dog after she warned him, Bennett said, and Buddy latched onto Goba’s pants.

 

[Exactly why is it the victim's responsibility to go to the other side of the street to avoid your brother's aggressive dog? Why are you not in control of your brother's aggressive dog - which, by the way, has attacked someone in the past?]

 

Bennett, 44, said it was seconds after police arrived that one of them shot Buddy in the side. He died within seconds.

 

“It happened so quickly. He shot him within three or four seconds of being on the ground,” Bennett

said. “The way they did it, it was just totally wrong. I just covered my ears and started screaming.”

 

Bennett and her son, Jose DeLeisa, are outraged the officers didn’t use some other means to stop the attack.

 

“They could have tased him. They could have pepper sprayed him. They could have hit him with a baton,” DeLeisa said.

 

[Um, no. You can't taser a dog that is latched on to someone without the victim being tased as well. You can't pepper spray an animal that is latched on to someone without the risk of blowback - everyone else being hit by the spray as well. Everyone knows you can't beat a pit bull in the head with a baton and make it release.]

 

Bennett and DeLeisa were also shaken because Bennett, as well as Goba, were so close to Buddy when the officer, who they said was officer Andrew Roy, fired.

 

“If that bullet had ricocheted, it could have hit my mother,” DeLeisa said.

 

 

Deputy Chief Andrew Lavoie said given circumstances, the officers seem to have made the right choice to shoot Buddy before Goba was more injured or even killed.

 

“This person was being actively attacked by this dog, and they couldn’t physically get the dog off of him,” Lavoie said. “What I was briefed on, it certainly sounded reasonable and prudent to prevent this man from being further injured. Certainly their decision-making has to be quick.”

 

Goba had at least one significant but non-life-threatening injury to the back of his right hip near his buttocks and was treated at the scene by AMR Ambulance personnel, police said.

 

Buddy’s vaccinations and licenses were all up to date. Bennett said she was walking him on a leash, as well as a choker and a training leash – a short length of stiff rubber with a handle.

 

Bennett said Buddy has bitten someone once before. He bit Bennett’s grandmother while lunging for another person who had taunted the dog, she said.

 

“He’s never attacked anyone. He just protects people,” DeLeisa said.

 

DeLeisa said he’s already filed a complaint with police and is exploring the possibility of filing a lawsuit.

 

Lavoie said police would investigate any complaint the family files as they do other complaints about officer conduct. He said firing a service weapon is a use of force, which requires the officer to file a report describing his or her actions and is reviewed as a matter of department policy.

The dog's owner, Michael Bennett was out of town when the attack occurred. His cousin said he was distraught when he heard the news. However, she also said Bennett has been trying to breed his male dog with a neighbor's female pit bull.

"He hopes it worked and that he'll be getting a puppy soon," she said.

(Nashua Telegraph - June 28, 2013)

Earlier:

• Nashua police shot, kill pit bull that was attacking a man on a bike path