But the family who owns the dog, named "Jack," disputed the claims made by police.
An LCPD news release states shortly before 5:30 p.m. in the 3200 block of Eagle Ridge Drive, a plain-clothes Las Cruces police detective was flagged down by three people who were being chased by an aggressive canine.
Kelcy Wilcox, whose family owned the approximately 4-year-old dog, adamantly denied the mostly black Catahoula mix was aggressive. She said the dog would have reacted the way it did because it was frightened.
"He's not an aggressive dog," said Wilcox, a New Mexico State University graduate who earned a degree in animal science, and has directly worked with the dog for about 2 1/2 years. "He was extremely well mannered, well trained."
According to a letter Wilcox wrote to the Sun-News, the family took the dog out publicly, to the Las Cruces dog park, Caliche's, St. Clair's Winery for Yappy Hour, Andele's Dog House and High Desert Brewing Co.
The LCPD release states preliminary information from the investigation into the shooting shows that the detective distracted the dog's attention from the victims and radioed for the assistance of an animal control officer.
Before the animal control officer arrived, the canine turned toward the detective.
As the dog ran toward the detective, the 16-year LCPD veteran fired his duty weapon fatally injuring the dog, according to the release.
"All he did was growl," Wilcox said. "That is a warning and not a reason to shoot him."
The adult man and two teenage girls who the police said were being harassed by the dog were not injured.
As per departmental policy related to the duty-related discharge of a firearm, the multi-agency task force will investigate the shooting.
The task force includes investigators from New Mexico State Police, the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Office, New Mexico State University Police and Las Cruces police. The task force reports its findings to the 3rd Judicial District Attorney's Office.
(Sun-News - Feb 13, 2014)
No comments:
Post a Comment