Cop Shoots Dog?
This came to us by friend of MBDC Rob Plumot who was walking through DC last night and sent us this:
After heading out of DC’s Best Sushi place around 8 last night, I headed towards Dupont Circle, only to find flashing police lights all over the place. Half of the circle was roped with “DO NOT CROSS – POLICE LINE” tape and at least 6 cruisers parked around and on the circle itself.
Wondering what happened, my compatriots and I talked to a bunch of folks who had seen the police response to the latest “crime emergency.” A peaceful homeless man’s dog had been shot by a cop in
the bustling park. It seems that the old pitbull was off it’s leash, hanging around it’s owner when the cop arrived. The cop, later claiming the dog charged him, fired a round into the mutt killing it instantly. Luckily, it seems his fast trigger finger didn’t result in any injuries to the many people wandering around the circle, not that that thought apparently crossed his mind when he decided to draw a gun and shoot a dog. All of the eye-witnesses I spoke with said the dog
was calm and not acting aggressively. It looks like the Washington Post reporter got a similar story about the completely needless shooting.
I was walking home from yoga, through Dupont Circle when it happened. I heard a gunshot sort of behind me and to the right, looked around, saw the police officer, with his gun drawn at point-blank range, and the dog, with a bullet wound, crumple to the ground, and heard its owner ask the officer, “Why’d you shoot my dog? She was just chasing squirrels,” and then start crying. I couldn’t bear to get closer or see any more. My heart goes out to Joe, the dog’s owner. When you adopt a pet, it really becomes part of the family; I’d be devastated if anything were to happen to my Bubba.
I love my dog to death and feel bad for the owner, but what was he doing letting a pit bull off the leash in Dupont Circle? That seems incredibly reckless.