Published 4/17/2003
Schneider:
Officer says there was no choice but to shoot Rottweiler
Dameion
Pittman returned to his Lansing home Sunday night to find a
blood stain on his front porch and a note saying a Lansing
police officer shot his dog. The note, from an Ingham County
Animal Control officer, informed Pittman that his 6-year-old
Rottweiler, Quddus, was fatally wounded by the police officer
after the dog escaped from Pittman's back yard through a
damaged gate. "I lost it. I just couldn't believe
it," said Pittman, who works for the Democratic policy
staff of the Michigan House of Representatives.
"I've had him since he was 6 weeks old
and he never caused any trouble." But the animal control
officer who went to Bradley Street on Sunday evening,
responding to a report of a vicious dog on the loose, said the
Rottweiler was nothing but trouble - 100 pounds of it. In
response to my inquiry Wednesday, animal control Director
Roger Fleming interviewed officer Yvonne Gaines, who said the
dog was behaving so aggressively that people in the
neighborhood were afraid to come out of their houses. Neighbor
Christina Ruiz, who said she witnessed the entire incident,
disputed that. She said her own small children were playing
outdoors, as were other kids, and that she didn't see the dog
as a threat.
Escape Route:
Pittman wasn't home when the licensed Rottweiler wriggled
through the gate. He said he had moved into the duplex only
recently, and didn't know that the gate was defective. A
neighbor called police, who, in turn, called Animal Control.
That agency isn't normally staffed on Sundays, but an officer
remains on call for emergencies. When Gaines arrived, the dog
was sitting on Pitt-man's porch. But, according to her report,
it charged her as she approached it. Deciding that she needed
help, Gaines returned to her truck and called LPD for backup.
By the time Officer Walt Kim arrived, Gaines had loaded a dart
into her tranquilizer gun. The two approached the dog and,
according to Gaines' report, the Rottweiler charged again.
Gaines fired her tranquilizer gun and hit the dog in the chest
- not the ideal spot, because of the presence of too much
bone. The dog, unfazed by the dart, continued to charge and
Kim shot it with his gun. Kim supported Gaines' version of
events, however Ruiz said the officers exaggerated the threat
posed by the dog. "They seemed to go in thinking it was a
killer Rottweiler," she said.
In Captivity:
According to Gaines, the dog remained aggressive after it was
shot, stalking between the porch, the lawn and the back yard.
She reloaded her tranquilizer gun and shot the dog a second
time. This time the tranquilizer took, allowing Gaines to
capture the dog with a pole snare. She loaded it into her
truck and took it to an urgent-care veterinarian. Gaines told
Fleming that even after two tranquilizer darts and a bullet,
the dog was still too aggressive to treat - and beyond help,
anyway. Using a syringe mounted on a pole, the vet euthanized
the dog.
Fleming said the Rottweiler's death might not be the end of
Pittman's problem. He could face misdemeanor charges related
to the fact that his dog was at large and said to be
"displaying vicious habits." Meanwhile, Pittman said
he'll file a formal complaint against Lansing police. "I
don't blame my neighbors for calling animal control," he
said, "but there was no reason to kill my dog. I don't
know if it's a vendetta against Rottweilers, or what."
John Schneider is the columnist who wrote this article!
What do you think?
Call John Schneider at 377-1175, send a fax to 377-1298
or e-mail jschneid@lsj.com
Include your name, phone number, city, town or township.
Our Comments: We are so sick of
hearing about Animal Control Officers & Police Officers
shooting Rottweilers! If they knew the first thing about the
breed, they would understand that the animal is simply doing
it's job by protecting it's owners property. We are going to
contact Mr. Schneider via email to see if our site can assist
in any way. We suggest that our viewers do the same.
