A thread critical of LE (cops & prosecutors)

[AriGold]

Think your dog is safe at the dog park? Think again!


Federal police officer shot dog in Arundel park
Anne Arundel authorities say man killed husky after dogs fought in park
August 03, 2010|By Jill Rosen and Brent Jones, The Baltimore Sun

Stunned dog owners and residents of a Severn neighborhood are shocked that authorities won't be charging a federal police officer who shot and killed a Siberian husky Monday night at a community dog park.

Bear-Bear, a brown and white husky that was about 3 years old, was playing in the Quail Run dog park at about 6:30 p.m., running off leash inside the fenced-in area, when the officer and his wife arrived with a German shepherd, who was kept on a leash. When the dogs began to play roughly, the federal officer asked Bear-Bear's guardian, his owner's brother, to call off the dog. But before he could do anything, the officer pulled out a gun and shot Bear-Bear, according to the husky's owner.

Bear-Bear, who belongs to Rachel Rettaliata, died of his injuries a few hours later. County police did not name the federal officer.

"I've been bawling my eyes out since 7 p.m. last night," Rettaliata said. "It's grief mixed with anger. We're so angry this guy was able to take our animal for what we feel was no reason at all.

"We still don't believe that he's gone. We just want so badly to be diligent about this. [The officer] has to pay some sort of consequence for his foolishness."

A spokesman for the Anne Arundel County Police Department said no charges will be filed and investigators found no evidence of criminal activity.

Rettaliata adopted Bear-Bear about two years ago from a husky rescue. He'd been seized from a Delaware home where people had tied him up outside, largely leaving him to fend for himself in the elements.

Tiffany Greco, who fostered the young Bear-Bear and placed him with the Rettaliata family, said the husky had led a hard-knock life, starved and neglected, with mats in his long fur the size of softballs. But even though he was mistreated, she said he never became aggressive around people or dogs.

"He was a very lovey-dovey, happy-go-lucky guy," Greco said, adding that Bear-Bear at least had a taste of a good life with the Rettaliatas. "All this dog wanted to do was curl up on top of you."

She said that huskies have a rough way of playing that, to people who don't know them, can seem intimidating.

"They have a much different play style than other dogs," she said. "They're a rough-and-tumble breed. They're mouthy. Often people interpret that as being aggressive when it's really them just playing."


http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-08...epherd-mix

This officer was charged with: inflicting unnecessary suffering and pain to an animal and discharging of a firearm within 100 yards of an occupied structure