[RP TownTalk] Dog incident

Thu May 15 13:06:56 UTC 2008

I want to thank Chief Chambers for giving us a complete and timely report  on 
this incident.  
This may also be a good time to remind pet owners of the serious  
responsibility involved in owning a pet.  Leash laws require that all dogs  be leashed. 
Responsible ownership is key to preventing these incidents.
We have a great resource in the Canine Training Association which helps  
owners train dogs.  They are located just up Kenilworth Ave. in  Beltsville.   
301-864-1647.  You can train your dog/dogs for the  small amount of $75 per year! 
 That's $1.44 per week!  You can't  afford not to do it.  A  trained dog is a 
pleasure to live with and  training is a good bond for master/dog 
relationships.
AudreyBragg
In a message dated 5/15/2008 8:48:07 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
varcher at gmail.com writes:

Dear friends and  neighbors:

I asked our Police Chief Teresa  Chambers to draft a letter that outlined the 
events leading up to the shooting  of a dog on Monday May 12.  The letter is 
provided for your information  and is not an official report. 

Anytime a shot is fired, the  absolute minimum action that the department 
takes is to have one of our  detectives conduct an internal investigation.  That 
investigation has not  been completed.

____________________________________

May 14, 2008
Mr. Mayor – 
We in the Riverdale Park Police  Department are saddened at having to destroy 
the dog we encountered.  Many of us are pet owners and care  deeply about the 
care and well being of animals.  What occurred prior to shots  being fired 
are critical factors that led us to take this  action. 
At 3:24 p.m. on May 12, 2008, our  dispatcher received a frantic call from a 
bicyclist who was commuting to work  via the bike trail that runs between the 
Northeast Branch of the Anacostia  River and Taylor Road.  The  dispatcher has 
described the victim as screaming for help, and he told her he  was being 
attacked by a pit-bull.   He told the dispatcher he was near the pumping station 
off of Taylor  Road.  The dispatcher could hear  the dog barking and snarling. 
 The  victim was using his bicycle to fight off the dog. 
Officers were dispatched to the  call to assist the man who was being 
attacked.  Based upon the seriousness of the call  and the chance of serious injury 
being incurred by the victim, officers  responded to the area using lights and 
sirens.  When the officers arrived and ran on  foot to the bike trail, they 
saw the dog still attacking the victim and  lunging toward a second victim, a 
child. 
One of the first officers who  arrived at the scene of the attack first 
attempted to use a taser to stop the  dog's attack; however the dog's quick 
movements made it impossible to  accurately deploy the weapon.   When the dog moved 
away from the victims, one of the officers was able  to safely fire his issued 
handgun several times at the dog.  It is possible that one or more of the  
rounds struck the dog, and the dog began running through the yards toward  Taylor 
Road in the direction of Longfellow Street.  
Fearing the dog would attack  someone else, the officers gave chase.   While 
we would have liked to have been able to await Prince George's  County Animal 
Control officers, they will only respond if an animal is  contained in a 
secured location.   Once the dog got to a location where the officers could fire 
their  weapons without the chance of injury to a passer-by (5320 Taylor Road), 
they  fired their firearms at the dog.   Since the dog was still in the open 
and able to run freely prior to  being shot, to have not destroyed the dog at 
that time would have been  irresponsible on our part and would have left the 
Town of Riverdale Park in an  indefensible position if the dog had then attacked 
another victim. 
It was necessary to fire several  shots to kill the dog.  Animal  Control 
personnel have trained law enforcement to avoid, whenever possible,  firing a 
shot to an animal's head when we destroy it (it is important for them  to have 
the animal's brain to accurately test for rabies).  In this case, though, the 
animal did  not die after the first few shots were fired; and, instead of 
allowing the dog  to suffer further, a fatal shot was fired to the dog's head. 
None of us felt good about having  to destroy a dog who, we later learned, 
was a pet of a town resident.  We know, though, that making the  decision to do 
so was appropriate and necessary and was done in the safest  possible manner. 
Teresa Chambers 
Chief of Police 
Town of Riverdale  Park

-- 
Vernon Archer, Mayor
Town of  Riverdale Park, Maryland  

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