Paula Rodecap said Friday afternoon she had been told by a Topeka animal control officer that the dog would recover from its wounds. But she is angry that officials won’t tell her where the dog is being held after being treated by a local veterinarian, and even angrier that she can’t retrieve the animal until appearing in municipal court to answer charges related to maintaining a dangerous dog.
The incident was reported around 1:30 a.m. Friday in an alley behind a residence at 1532 S.W. Central Park as two police officers were responding to a call.
Police Lt. Chuck Haggard said a dog “charged” toward one of the officers from the backyard of a residence. The officer responded by shooting the dog.
Rodecap, 44, said the staffordshire pit bull terrier named Jackson Smore suffered at least one gunshot wound to his right hind-quarter.
She said Jackson Smore is a registered companion dog to her husband, Rick Rodecap, 56, who is disabled, and that his personal care attendant had let the dog out the back door to relieve itself around 1:30 a.m. Friday.
She said the dog encountered a pair of Topeka police officers who she said were doing “foot patrol” in the alley. She was inside her home watching television, she said, when she heard gunfire behind her house.
She said police told her the dog was shot after it charged at them.
“I don’t doubt the dog came at the officers,” Rodecap said, “but not in an aggressive manner.”
Rodecap said her backyard doesn’t have a fence and the dog wasn’t on a cable because it was only outside for a few minutes to go to the bathroom.
She said her pit bull wasn’t aggressive and that it was known as a friendly animal to residents of the Central Park neighborhood and at her former residence, Knightsbridge Manor, 501 S.W. Franklin, where she and her husband formerly lived.
She said she found four spent shell casings in her backyard and questioned why officers had to shoot the dog, which she believes was moving away from officers when it was wounded.
After the dog was shot, Rodecap said, it came back inside her residence where he “bled all over the place.” Bloodstains could be seen behind her home and inside her kitchen, living room, staircase and upstairs.
Rodecap said she called for the police shift supervisor to come to her house after the incident because she was so upset. She said the supervisor did come to her home.
However, she said, some officers at her residence left shortly before 2 a.m. to respond to a shooting in the 600 block of S.W. Tyler that turned out to be the city’s fourth homicide of the year.
Police cited Rodecap in connection with dog at large and dangerous dog violations.
(CJOnline - June 20, 2014)
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