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Owner disputes dog shooting
Dover police say Rottweiler was being aggressive, but eyewitness disagrees
By JAMES MERRIWEATHER
The News Journal
03/16/2006
DOVER -- A 1-year-old Rottweiler named Cujo, described by those closest to him as a sweetheart, was shot dead by a Dover police officer Wednesday outside his owners' Morris Estates home.
Police said three shots were fired at two dogs after they made aggressive moves toward two police officers who responded to a complaint that a pit bull was running loose in the south Dover neighborhood.
Two of the shots missed the dogs. One pierced a vehicle's windows before lodging in a neighbor's windowsill.
Although both dogs were accused of threatening the officers, Cujo's owners said the dog was gentle enough to have served two days earlier as a pony of sorts for Camilla Mitchell's 19-month-old granddaughter, Brooke.
"They're gentle dogs," Mitchell, 65, said of Cujo and the uninjured Bear, a 12-year-old Akita with a hip ailment that has rendered his hindquarters all but useless. "They just lick you to death, you know."
Mitchell and 38-year-old Tonya Smith, who share a residence on Evergreen Drive, own the dogs.
Capt. Lester Boney, spokesman for Dover police, said Bear made the first move, walking "in an aggressive manner" toward Mark Moore, a civilian animal control officer and the first responder. "[Moore] thought the dog may have been hit by a car, and that's why he was acting so aggressively," Boney said.
Then, Boney said, Cujo turned and approached Moore, who doused the dogs with pepper spray, a preferred alternative to using the .410-gauge shotgun he had with him.
Patrolman 1st Class Michael Konnick, 38, an eight-year veteran, and Patrolman Peter Martinek, a trainee with just over a month on the job, responded to Moore's request for assistance.
As the dogs moved toward them, Boney said, Konnick fired a single shot that killed the Rottweiler.
Martinek, meanwhile, fired two shots that missed both dogs, including one shot that ricocheted off the street and pierced a back and side window of a 1998 Chevrolet Tahoe owned by 45-year-old Lorri Martin, who lives two doors away from Mitchell and Smith. The bullet also pierced a window of Martin's home, and, according to Martin, was retrieved by a police officer from a sill inside.
Boney said the police department would pay for repairs to Martin's vehicle. He said an internal investigation of the shooting was being conducted, but Konnick and Martinek remained on the job.
"They said the dogs were aggressive toward them," Boney said. "I can assure you we don't go around shooting dogs for no reason."
Eyewitness account differs
Mitchell and Smith said an eyewitness to the shooting insisted the police account was faulty in several respects. Martin said she was told that Cujo was lured out of her yard and into the street by the animal control officer and that the pepper-spraying described by Boney actually was an instance of Cujo being petted by Moore. And, she said, the officers fired five shots, not three.
The witness, who could not be reached, reportedly called police to report a couple of officers shooting at the dogs.
Mitchell and Smith spent the better part of Wednesday afternoon shepherding visitors around the shooting scene -- pointing out a blackening bloodstain in the middle of Evergreen Drive and a bloody spot in their driveway where, Mitchell said, Cujo was dumped by officers who removed him from the street. Cujo was buried in a grave just behind the dual backyard pens he and Bear occupied.
"We wrapped him in a blanket," Mitchell said, pointing to a mound of dirt with two sticks that marked the head of the grave. "He was a big dog, as big as this hole here."
Mitchell has owned Bear for about six years, and came by Cujo when he was about five weeks old, from a family who lives near Seaford. A look at the dogs' pens suggested Cujo broke though a common wire fence and into Bear's pen and the two dogs walked out through a gate that was not sufficiently secure.
"How that gate got open, I have no idea," Mitchell said. "But that's on me. That's my fault."
Legal repercussions
Mitchell and Smith received two $100 tickets for keeping vicious dogs, two $25 tickets for keeping unlicensed dogs and two $25 tickets for keeping unleashed dogs. Admittedly, the dogs were unlicensed and unleashed, but Mitchell said she could drum up witnesses to say they were not vicious.
Mitchell, Smith and Martin described their section of Morris Estates, located just east of U.S. 13 south of the St. Jones River bridge, as a close-knit neighborhood where everybody knew everybody else's pets. If a wayward pet were encountered, they said, it was not uncommon for a neighbor to grab it by the collar and escort it home.
That goes for both Cujo and Bear, they said.
When the shooting occurred, Mitchell dismissed the loud pops as a car backfiring. She figured out what was going on just in time, she said, to rescue Bear from the animal control van.
"They said they were going to euthanize him, but they didn't even mean to tell us," she said.
By late afternoon, Martin had received a visit from Deputy Police Chief Ray Taraila and Lt. Kenneth Balke of the internal affairs unit.
She wouldn't drive her Tahoe for fear that the shattered glass would eventually fall out, prompting the officers to offer her an unmarked police car and a driver to drive her around. Later, she was told that only marked units were available, and she turned down the offer.
"Can you imagine picking up my 14-year-old daughter in a marked police car?" she said. "I told them I would make my own arrangements."
Contact James Merriweather at 678-4273 or [email protected].
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060316/NEWS/603160361/1006
Dover police say Rottweiler was being aggressive, but eyewitness disagrees
By JAMES MERRIWEATHER
The News Journal
03/16/2006
DOVER -- A 1-year-old Rottweiler named Cujo, described by those closest to him as a sweetheart, was shot dead by a Dover police officer Wednesday outside his owners' Morris Estates home.
Police said three shots were fired at two dogs after they made aggressive moves toward two police officers who responded to a complaint that a pit bull was running loose in the south Dover neighborhood.
Two of the shots missed the dogs. One pierced a vehicle's windows before lodging in a neighbor's windowsill.
Although both dogs were accused of threatening the officers, Cujo's owners said the dog was gentle enough to have served two days earlier as a pony of sorts for Camilla Mitchell's 19-month-old granddaughter, Brooke.
"They're gentle dogs," Mitchell, 65, said of Cujo and the uninjured Bear, a 12-year-old Akita with a hip ailment that has rendered his hindquarters all but useless. "They just lick you to death, you know."
Mitchell and 38-year-old Tonya Smith, who share a residence on Evergreen Drive, own the dogs.
Capt. Lester Boney, spokesman for Dover police, said Bear made the first move, walking "in an aggressive manner" toward Mark Moore, a civilian animal control officer and the first responder. "[Moore] thought the dog may have been hit by a car, and that's why he was acting so aggressively," Boney said.
Then, Boney said, Cujo turned and approached Moore, who doused the dogs with pepper spray, a preferred alternative to using the .410-gauge shotgun he had with him.
Patrolman 1st Class Michael Konnick, 38, an eight-year veteran, and Patrolman Peter Martinek, a trainee with just over a month on the job, responded to Moore's request for assistance.
As the dogs moved toward them, Boney said, Konnick fired a single shot that killed the Rottweiler.
Martinek, meanwhile, fired two shots that missed both dogs, including one shot that ricocheted off the street and pierced a back and side window of a 1998 Chevrolet Tahoe owned by 45-year-old Lorri Martin, who lives two doors away from Mitchell and Smith. The bullet also pierced a window of Martin's home, and, according to Martin, was retrieved by a police officer from a sill inside.
Boney said the police department would pay for repairs to Martin's vehicle. He said an internal investigation of the shooting was being conducted, but Konnick and Martinek remained on the job.
"They said the dogs were aggressive toward them," Boney said. "I can assure you we don't go around shooting dogs for no reason."
Eyewitness account differs
Mitchell and Smith said an eyewitness to the shooting insisted the police account was faulty in several respects. Martin said she was told that Cujo was lured out of her yard and into the street by the animal control officer and that the pepper-spraying described by Boney actually was an instance of Cujo being petted by Moore. And, she said, the officers fired five shots, not three.
The witness, who could not be reached, reportedly called police to report a couple of officers shooting at the dogs.
Mitchell and Smith spent the better part of Wednesday afternoon shepherding visitors around the shooting scene -- pointing out a blackening bloodstain in the middle of Evergreen Drive and a bloody spot in their driveway where, Mitchell said, Cujo was dumped by officers who removed him from the street. Cujo was buried in a grave just behind the dual backyard pens he and Bear occupied.
"We wrapped him in a blanket," Mitchell said, pointing to a mound of dirt with two sticks that marked the head of the grave. "He was a big dog, as big as this hole here."
Mitchell has owned Bear for about six years, and came by Cujo when he was about five weeks old, from a family who lives near Seaford. A look at the dogs' pens suggested Cujo broke though a common wire fence and into Bear's pen and the two dogs walked out through a gate that was not sufficiently secure.
"How that gate got open, I have no idea," Mitchell said. "But that's on me. That's my fault."
Legal repercussions
Mitchell and Smith received two $100 tickets for keeping vicious dogs, two $25 tickets for keeping unlicensed dogs and two $25 tickets for keeping unleashed dogs. Admittedly, the dogs were unlicensed and unleashed, but Mitchell said she could drum up witnesses to say they were not vicious.
Mitchell, Smith and Martin described their section of Morris Estates, located just east of U.S. 13 south of the St. Jones River bridge, as a close-knit neighborhood where everybody knew everybody else's pets. If a wayward pet were encountered, they said, it was not uncommon for a neighbor to grab it by the collar and escort it home.
That goes for both Cujo and Bear, they said.
When the shooting occurred, Mitchell dismissed the loud pops as a car backfiring. She figured out what was going on just in time, she said, to rescue Bear from the animal control van.
"They said they were going to euthanize him, but they didn't even mean to tell us," she said.
By late afternoon, Martin had received a visit from Deputy Police Chief Ray Taraila and Lt. Kenneth Balke of the internal affairs unit.
She wouldn't drive her Tahoe for fear that the shattered glass would eventually fall out, prompting the officers to offer her an unmarked police car and a driver to drive her around. Later, she was told that only marked units were available, and she turned down the offer.
"Can you imagine picking up my 14-year-old daughter in a marked police car?" she said. "I told them I would make my own arrangements."
Contact James Merriweather at 678-4273 or [email protected].
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060316/NEWS/603160361/1006
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