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Deputy shoots, kills dog during Boulder Creek probation search
The deputy then pulled out a gun and shot the dog once, Campos said. The deputy prepared to shoot the other dog, but his partner told him to stop, Locatelli said.
By Stephen Baxter
Posted: 04/15/2011 01:30:24 AM PDT
BOULDER CREEK -- A sheriff's deputy shot a bull terrier puppy to death when the dog rushed out of a front door and barked during a probation search on Thursday, the Sheriff's Office reported.
About 11:30 a.m. on the 200 block of Anchor Court, two deputies knocked on the door of 48-year-old Lonni Locatelli, who was on probation for a meth-related conviction, Sgt. Dan Campos said. Loud knocking alerted Locatelli's two dogs, a 12-pound, 5-month-old female bull terrier named Sheeba and a 2-year-old pit bull mix, Locatelli said.
The dogs barked. Locatelli was in the shower, and he heard the knocking and barking and answered the door.
As he opened the door, the dogs ran to a waist-high retaining wall above the walkway, Locatelli said. One of the deputies reached for his pepper spray and fired it at Sheeba, Campos said.
The deputy then pulled out a gun and shot the dog once, Campos said. The deputy prepared to shoot the other dog, but his partner told him to stop, Locatelli said.
"She was just barking, she never hurt anybody," Locatelli said. "I couldn't even believe it."
The dog was still alive after the shooting, Locatelli said; he picked her up and ran to his Jeep to find a veterinarian.
Locatelli started driving but the pepper spray on Sheeba hindered his driving, he said. He pulled over at a bus stop and asked a man there to drive his car to the Boulder Creek Veterinary Clinic at 12870 Highway 9.
The veterinarian tried to treat her but she died on the table in Locatelli's arms, he said.
"They shot my dog for no reason," Locatelli said. "She's like my kid. I loved that dog.
"I'm infuriated about what happened here. This guy needs to lose his badge and his gun."
Campos said Thursday that a sergeant contacted Locatelli and took statements from him, his girlfriend and a neighbor who was nearby during the shooting. The case is under investigation, Campos said.
"It's an unfortunate situation to be in. Ultimately, we look at the owner's responsibility for this. Dogs shouldn't be able to charge anyone," Campos said.
Deputies are trained to use escalating force in such situations, and Campos said that "vicious" dogs have attacked deputies.
"This case will be looked at, but it doesn't appear on the face of it to be very complicated," he said. "We've had situations like this where dogs have had to be shot."
Posted: 04/15/2011 01:30:24 AM PDT
BOULDER CREEK -- A sheriff's deputy shot a bull terrier puppy to death when the dog rushed out of a front door and barked during a probation search on Thursday, the Sheriff's Office reported.
About 11:30 a.m. on the 200 block of Anchor Court, two deputies knocked on the door of 48-year-old Lonni Locatelli, who was on probation for a meth-related conviction, Sgt. Dan Campos said. Loud knocking alerted Locatelli's two dogs, a 12-pound, 5-month-old female bull terrier named Sheeba and a 2-year-old pit bull mix, Locatelli said.
The dogs barked. Locatelli was in the shower, and he heard the knocking and barking and answered the door.
As he opened the door, the dogs ran to a waist-high retaining wall above the walkway, Locatelli said. One of the deputies reached for his pepper spray and fired it at Sheeba, Campos said.
The deputy then pulled out a gun and shot the dog once, Campos said. The deputy prepared to shoot the other dog, but his partner told him to stop, Locatelli said.
"She was just barking, she never hurt anybody," Locatelli said. "I couldn't even believe it."
The dog was still alive after the shooting, Locatelli said; he picked her up and ran to his Jeep to find a veterinarian.
Locatelli started driving but the pepper spray on Sheeba hindered his driving, he said. He pulled over at a bus stop and asked a man there to drive his car to the Boulder Creek Veterinary Clinic at 12870 Highway 9.
The veterinarian tried to treat her but she died on the table in Locatelli's arms, he said.
"They shot my dog for no reason," Locatelli said. "She's like my kid. I loved that dog.
"I'm infuriated about what happened here. This guy needs to lose his badge and his gun."
Campos said Thursday that a sergeant contacted Locatelli and took statements from him, his girlfriend and a neighbor who was nearby during the shooting. The case is under investigation, Campos said.
"It's an unfortunate situation to be in. Ultimately, we look at the owner's responsibility for this. Dogs shouldn't be able to charge anyone," Campos said.
Deputies are trained to use escalating force in such situations, and Campos said that "vicious" dogs have attacked deputies.
"This case will be looked at, but it doesn't appear on the face of it to be very complicated," he said. "We've had situations like this where dogs have had to be shot."
For more information:
http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/rss/ci_17...
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FROM THE SENTINEL:
BOULDER CREEK
Details released in dog shooting
Sheriff's deputies said the bull terrier shot to death during a probation search in Boulder Creek was 56.8 pounds, according to a veterinarian who weighed it -- not 12 pounds as the dog's owner reported.
About 11:30 a.m. on the 200 block of Anchor Court, a deputy shot a bull terrier to death after it and a pit bull mix rushed toward the deputy, deputy April Skalland said.
Skalland said neighbors had complained about the property, and when deputies visited in March, a man ran off and was not caught. Deputies arrived Thursday to search for drugs and stolen property, Skalland said, and the door slammed shut when they approached.
A woman was in the house with the 48-year-old man who owned the dog, Skalland said.
After deputies knocked on the door and the door opened, two dogs rushed out barking and bearing their teeth, Skalland said. The deputy backed up and sprayed one of the dogs with pepper spray -- which is routine, Skalland said.
The dog did not back off, and the deputy fired one shot at the dog and killed it.
"It was very chaotic at the scene," Skalland said.
Nothing was found in the search, she said, which was long after the shooting.
"The deputy's not happy that he had to shoot a dog," she said. "Nobody wants to do that."
Skalland added that deputies have to stop threats. She added that the dogs were not on a retaining wall that the owner described. The case is under investigation, she said.
"Based on what we know now, the deputy did what he should have done," Skalland said.
BECKY: Notice that one of the "details" not revealed in this update is the NAME of the officer who shot the dog. Note also that no drugs were found. No crimes were committed. Just a couple of cops performing an unannounced and unprovoked search on a man with a search clause.
There have been a lot of arrests lately for the dubious charges of "suspicion of being under a controlled substance" and the even more dubious "suspicion of possession of a controlled substance."