Tyree, 37, said she heard two pit bull dogs bark at her in the predawn darkness. She said she turned and saw the dogs standing in the middle of the street in the 3300 block of S.E. Colfax.
In short order, Tyree said, the dogs charge at her.
A short time later, a Topeka police officer fired two rounds, both of which struck and killed one of the “vicious” pit bulls.
But before that happened, Tyree had to take quick action to keep herself and her baby safe.
As the pair of dogs began to charge at her, Tyree said, “I told them to go home. I guess that made them mad.”
Holding her 5-month-old son, Christian, in her left arm, away from the dogs, Tyree jumped on the hood of her car, parked in a driveway on the east side of S.E. Colfax.
She used her feet to kick at the dogs as they tried to jump on top of her car, she said.
Just then, a neighbor across the street saw what was happening and yelled out “Go home” at the dogs, who then turned and headed north on S.E. Colfax toward the man’s house.
Tyree said a police car arrived on the scene about the same time. She said the officer got out of his patrol car and was charged by the dogs.
The officer, Tyree said, swung his baton back and forth three times, backing up in the process, before using his gun to shoot one of the dogs two times. The dog died at the scene. The other dog, meanwhile, took off running and police hadn’t located it by 9 a.m.
“The officer didn’t want to shoot the dog,” Tyree said. “It was his last resort.”
Lt. Louis Cortez said at the scene that police had been notified of the pair of pit bull dogs running at large in the neighborhood, charging at people and preventing children from going to their school bus stop.
At least two additional residents on the block were forced to seek safety on top of their cars when they were charged by the dogs, Cortez said.
While police don’t want to be forced to shoot dogs, Cortez said, cases such as Monday’s incident leave officers no choice but to do so.
He said the incident was the result of the dogs’ owners not taking responsibility and keeping the animals secured.
Cortez held four pieces of paper that had witness reports of the incident, all agreeing on the facts of the situation and stating the officer took “appropriate” action.
Animal control officials picked up the deceased dog, who died near the west curb in the 3300 block of S.E. Colfax.
The Topeka Fire Department was called to the scene to help clean up the scene after the dog had been shot.
The police department’s Crime Scene Investigation Unit and professional standards unit also responded to the incident.
Cortez said police were still trying to locate the owner of the dogs.
(CJ Online - Aug 18, 2014)
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