A police officer entered the living room of a family's home when a group of police were responding to a domestic dispute. The family dog, a small terrier, slipped out of someone's grip (it was surrounded by the family's 3 children) and started yapping very aggressively at the police officer. He drew his gun and discharged several rounds in the general direction of the dog. He missed the dog and one of the bullets ricocheted off the concrete and lodged into the forehead of one the surrounding children, a 9 year old girl who was standing directly behind the dog. Fragments also lodged in her eye and she ran from the room screaming. The police have declined to press charges against the girl. The police officer who discharged the firearm has been fired.
That dog probably weighed all of maybe 20 pounds.
There is something mentally wrong with a person like that. Yes, I know that even a little terrier could bite a person, but that is not a dog capable of inflicting grievous bodily harm on any cop. The worst they might have gotten is a torn pant leg.
What they did get is a little girl who will NEVER trust cops again as long as she lives, and most likely a huge lawsuit.
One of our neighbors has a bulldog that weighs about 75-85 pounds, and IS a vicious animal. He escaped from their property, entered our back yard and killed our toy poodle by basically biting it almost in half and breaking its lower jaw almost completely off.
We had to put the poodle to sleep, too much pain and suffering.
Now, that IS a dog that I would shoot, because next time he might go after my wife, who is a slow moving target on wheels:
Our other neighbor also has a dog that has gotten out and is prone to aggressive behavior, but he's about the size of the terrier that Officer Betts encountered. When he lunged at me and bit me, all I had to do was kick him out of the way, and he ran back to his yard. He did exactly as I mentioned above, my pant leg got torn a little bit and I had a slight red mark on my shin. Big deal.
We did not press charges against the neighbor with the vicious bulldog that killed our poodle. We had just moved in and didn't want to start off on bad footing right off the bat, but they did pay for the vet bill and cremation, about 700 dollars total.
I also did not press charges against the neighbor with the smaller dog that bit me either.
I did however explain to the neighbors with the vicious bulldog that I simply must defend myself or my family if their dog ever gets out again.
Yes, all dogs have the potential to be vicious but no normal adult would react to a 20 pound terrier having a hissy fit by shooting it.
It's just not capable of inflicting that much damage to a full grown man unless they're sitting right next to it.