"He's never been an aggressive dog," said Harley's owner, Ashley Hicks. The Buckhead resident had come home from a night out Friday. Harley, who'd been cooped up indoors, needed to go out for a moment of relief.
Harley went out, unleashed, and encountered Atlanta police officer Jacques Clark -- dispatched to check on a loud party nearby.
"At the same time the dog came out, I guess he saw the officer, he barked. And then we heard two gunshots," Hicks said.
Atlanta police policy allows police to use deadly force to "defend the officer or another from physical assault." According to a police report, Officer Clark "shot a unleashed dog which was charging at him."
Hicks says she takes responsibility for failing to leash her dog on that occasion. But she says she isn't buying it the suggestion that Harley charged Officer Clark.
"He is a very friendly dog," Hicks said.
Records also show that a Gwinnett County police officer shot and killed a pit bull at a house last week. That police report also says the animal "lunged at the officer" and "bit her left thigh" before she fired. The officer was checking for suspicious activity at a house she thought was vacant, when the dog emerged from a garage.
Police in Atlanta and Gwinnett declined to elaborate on the incident reports.
Hicks says the Atlanta officer who shot her dog overreacted.
"I think he made a really rash decision, didn't really think through the severity of what he was doing," Hicks said.
(11Alive - April 20, 2015)
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