Woman says police used Taser, killed her dog

CALIFORNIA -- A Coronado dog owner says she’s devastated over the death of her 105-pound Shiloh Shepherd, who died a day after police used a Taser on the animal twice.

“Smokey is not the type of dog that would bite anybody,” owner Roclynn Nosek told NBC7. “He was the sweetest, most loving animal ever. He would lick your face before he would bite you.”

 

Smokey somehow escaped from Nosek’s second-story condo on Orange Avenue Saturday, and after wandering onto First Street, police say they got reports of an aggressive dog.

“Our officers witnessed the dog lunge at a citizen and try to take a bite, and the dog ultimately charged an officer,”  Coronado Police Department Captain Laszlo Waczek told NBC7. “So at this point, the officer had no other choice but to defend himself and defend the public.”

Police said they tried to subdue the dog at two locations and used the Taser on the dog at both locations.

"They didn't have to taser him. Animal control in east L.A., they use a net to get stray dogs," Nosek said.

Officers secured the dog and transported Smokey to an animal hospital, but the dog died hours later from internal bleeding.

"He had the thing around his neck with the pole, he had a muzzle around his mouth, he had been tasered three times. He had blood all over his face. His back legs were tied," Nosek said.

Waczek said it was a matter of public safety to use a Taser on the dog, and said the department would conduct an internal review of what happened and the protocol used when a Taser is deployed.

Nosek says she doesn't blame Coronado police, but thinks there could have been other options to subdue her dog. She said she would like to see a policy change.

“When we opened up the back seat of the car, he knew it was us,” she said. “He heard our voice and he started to wriggle his body the best he could to let us know he was really happy to see us there. It was so difficult.”

Nosek plans to hold a memorial for Smokey to raise awareness about what happened in hopes something similar does not happen to anyone else.

Coronado Police Department Issues Statement Related to Tasered Dog Incident
Coronado Police were involved in an incident over the weekend involving a dog that had been reported to Police by the public as aggressive and was witnessed by an officer lunging at a woman attempting to approach it. The dog was first reported acting aggressively at Centennial Park. It then charged at officers attempting to control the animal at two different locations. The officers attempted to subdue the dog by use of a Taser at these two locations. The dog was eventually secured and transported to an animal hospital, where it unfortunately died the following day.

The use of a Taser or other means of force on an aggressive animal is permissible to protect the public and the safety of an Officer.  In this case, officers were dealing with an aggressive animal, had witnessed the dog lunging and biting at a pedestrian and were themselves charged at by the dog and felt an attack was imminent. The Coronado PD is saddened by the death of the dog.  -  Source:  Coronado Police Department

(NBC San Diego - Sept 28, 2015)