Another case of puppycide:

Police raided a Strawberry Hill Road home in search of an allegedly dangerous teen early yesterday morning and in the process shot to death a black pit bull described by the family as a loving pet.

In their search for the boy Wednesday night, police obtained a ”no-knock” warrant for the Centerville home of his mother, Wendy Perry. Twelve members of the Barnstable-Yarmouth Special Response Team arrived there around 2:30 a.m. yesterday.

[...]

After approaching the unlocked door, Damery said, police identified themselves and faced the barking dog. Police screamed several times for someone to restrain the dog, a 60-pound pit bull named Max, Damery said.

The dog was acting very aggressively, barking ferociously and lunging at a police officer, he said.

An officer then shot Max once, killing him just outside the doorway.

”We feel bad that the dog had to be put down in this manner,” Damery said. ”But this dog seriously delayed us securing the house and threatened the safety of our officers.”

[...]

”They never afforded us the opportunity to restrain Max before shooting him in close range,” Perry said. ”Anyone who has met the dog will tell you he has never acted in an aggressive manner.”

The family pleaded with officers to let them restrain the dog, she said, describing the animal as a 5-year-old American pit bull. Max was barking as any dog would if confronted by a dozen strangers with automatic weapons, Perry said.

[...]

Thomas M. Burns of Veterinary Associates of Cape Cod in South Yarmouth, Max’s vet since he was a puppy, could say only good things about the dog.

”This event saddens me because Max was an exceptionally sweet dog who clearly had a very loving and very caring owner,” Burns said, referring to Perry.

”The bottom line is that all dogs could be protective of their pack if confronted with a threatening circumstance,” said Burns, who said he owns a similar pit bull breed. ”I can see how a dozen unknown officers with guns bursting in at night could be a threatening circumstance.”

This entry was posted on Monday, June 5th, 2006 at 9:31 am by Radley Balko and is filed under Police Militarization. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.