Dog-at-large call. What did the dog owner want the Deputy to do after the dog bit him? Makes you wonder about the role played by alcohol or drugs.
Link

Michigan State Police are investigating an incident this week involving a Hillsdale County Sheriff's deputy who fatally shot a dog and its owner.

The deputy was dispatched to the 6500 block of South Edon Road in Reading at about 7:45 p.m. Wednesday on a "dog-at-large complaint," state police said in a statement.

"When the deputy made contact at the residence of the dog, the deputy was immediately attacked by the dog and bit" the deputy, the release said. "The deputy fired shots at the dog, which resulted in killing the dog."

The dog’s owner, identified Oscar Herrera, 32, became upset about the shooting and confronted the deputy while armed with a knife, state police said.

The deputy shot Herrera, who was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

Investigators recovered the knife. The deputy was taken to a hospital for treatment of the dog bite.

State police are not releasing the name of the deputy, who has been placed on administrative leave as an investigation into the shooting remains open.

He has more than seven years of experience in law enforcement.

Detectives with the Michigan State Police First District Special Investigation Section are investigating the shooting and are slated to submit findings to the Hillsdale County Prosecutor’s Office for review once completed.

So many problems and incidents like this can be solved by just simply controlling your dog and being a responsible owner. Fences, chains, training...

Now to this specific situation, until we know more (which we may not, since the owner is dead), it's difficult to judge.

At face value of the article posted above, it's difficult to know what the officer could have done differently. There could be other information that may come out, we'll see.

If the dog that bit the officer was truly at large, unrestrained, and roaming off property...then the officer potentially saved a child. If the officer saw a dog running in a fenced area, entered the area and got bit....then this is a different story. The article doesn't really spell out the whole situation so I reserve my opinion either way.

Best possible outcome

Irresponsible dog owners are the worst. Don’t want to hurt your animal, but I will if it attacks my family because of your negligence and inability to control it. We’ve been having a similar situation in our neighborhood and I’m very close to killing somebody’s dog which I absolutely don’t want to do, but absolutely will if required.

2 for 2. Nice work!

quote:

Originally posted by arabiancowboy:
Irresponsible dog owners are the worst. Don’t want to hurt your animal, but I will if it attacks my family because of your negligence and inability to control it. We’ve been having a similar situation in our neighborhood and I’m very close to killing somebody’s dog which I absolutely don’t want to do, but absolutely will if required.

I was forced to kill my neighbors dog when it attacked me while holding my 2 year old daughter, INSIDE my fenced 1 acre property (about 15 years ago). IT was horrible. Not only did I have to discharge rounds while holding my daughter, but the neighbors proceeded to call the troopers on me with lies several times over the next few weeks following the incident. I reported the kill immediately, the troopers dispatched animal enforcement...who investigated the shooting, even performing an autopsy. I was cleared, but the whole experience was awful. I love dogs.

The next year they poisoned my puppy. We finally just moved.

Irresponsible pet owners are the worst.

Not enough info to get upset about any of it, except that the deputy is riding a desk for a while.

-I had a loose dog make a run at my toddler once when I was visiting my parents in NC. Dropped him in the driveway.

-on a search warrant the suspect sicced his dog on me, I shot it once and it retreated and wasn’t a threat anymore

-I was attacked by a 100 pound Rottweiler on a loose dog call once, thank God for Speer gold dots

-I was bit in the face when I was about eight and survived w/o scarring.

But if your pet alligator,donkey,llama,dog,cat,horse,emotional support monkey, lemming, hedgehog or any other animal type product begins attacking me, I’ll just attack it right back. I don’t have fangs or hooves or a tail, but I can put two in the ten ring right quick and will sleep well after doing it.

So keep your animals tied up or in your fence and you won’t have any problems from me.


Don’t get me wrong, I have had dogs my whole life and love animals, but try and bite me and I’ll show you who’s boss.

quote:

Originally posted by AKSuperDually:

quote:

Originally posted by arabiancowboy:
Irresponsible dog owners are the worst. Don’t want to hurt your animal, but I will if it attacks my family because of your negligence and inability to control it. We’ve been having a similar situation in our neighborhood and I’m very close to killing somebody’s dog which I absolutely don’t want to do, but absolutely will if required.

I was forced to kill my neighbors dog when it attacked me while holding my 2 year old daughter, INSIDE my fenced 1 acre property (about 15 years ago). IT was horrible. Not only did I have to discharge rounds while holding my daughter, but the neighbors proceeded to call the troopers on me with lies several times over the next few weeks following the incident. I reported the kill immediately, the troopers dispatched animal enforcement...who investigated the shooting, even performing an autopsy. I was cleared, but the whole experience was awful. I love dogs.

The next year they poisoned my puppy. We finally just moved.

Irresponsible pet owners are the worst.

That’s a terrible story, but I’m glad you were armed!

This is the second dog that was shot. First one was by a State Trooper a couple years ago. Before you ask-I live in the area.

Channeling Dirty Harry: "Nothing wrong with shooting, as long as the right people - and dogs - get shot."

Circa 2013 I went for an exercise walk in a nearby but unfamiliar neighborhood. In one of several incidents involving loose dogs, one actually stalked and chased me. I scared it off (apparently it wasn't too committed), but booked out of there ASAP, as I was afraid its owner would show up and might have to defend myself against him. At that time I didn't yet have my carry permit and was unarmed.

There are two dogs fenced in by a 4’ fence on a walking route we take sometimes. Both are some type of German Shepard looking dogs, but pretty dark in color, and they are huge. They dwarf a standard Shepard, in size, and weight.
They appear to be quite savage. Losing their minds at the fence wanting to get to us. They get so worked up they have begun to fight then back to running the fence line going completely bananas.

It’s just a matter of time before they figure out they can easily hop the fence.

We usually take a different route now, but I stopped carrying the Kimber, because it only holds 7. The 228 is back on the hip. It’s the last thing I want to do, but I’m not messing with a pair of nasty 100+ lb dogs.

In my profession, I have to deal with dogs several times a day. I love dogs, but when working I don’t want to deal with them. We get issued dog spray for a reason. I carry two on me at all times.

The problem with dogs, is people see them as their kids. And the dogs react completely differently under certain circumstances. My rule of thumb is if the dog exits the property, I do what I need to do. You don’t have time to react.

The worst incident involved a 20 something aged college student whose dog got in fight with another dog. The other dog’s owner use to walk it with a baseball bat, the owner knew it was aggressive. When I showed up, the college student was on the ground, and the dog was clamping on her arm. I sprayed an entire can of mace, and then beat the hell out of it with the owners baseball bat. Finally got the dog to release, and picked up the girl and put her in my truck. She was going into shock. Major blood loss, her arm looked like 5lbs of ground meat. When I was hitting the dog, it reminded me of a shark with its eyes rolling back in its head. It took several blows with an aluminum basebal to get the dog off her. I still don’t know why the dog didn’t turn on me. I have no doubt in my mind, if that dog got ahold of her neck, she wouldn’t be alive today. Thank God a Louisville Slugger was on hand.

Dog owners get pissed when you spray or beat their dog. But our local ordinances require a dog be under the owners control at all times, whether it be on a leash, behind a fence. But I still won’t enter someone’s property line if I feel threatened. And the dog owners become combative, usually verbally. But I’ve had dogs jump out of moving vehicles, or breaking through storm doors. A coworker got attacked by a dog that jumped through a second floor window. I have coworkers missing fingers because of dog attacks.

I have ZERO problems with the outcome, and love dogs.

quote:

Originally posted by arabiancowboy:

quote:

Originally posted by AKSuperDually:

quote:

Originally posted by arabiancowboy:
Irresponsible dog owners are the worst. Don’t want to hurt your animal, but I will if it attacks my family because of your negligence and inability to control it. We’ve been having a similar situation in our neighborhood and I’m very close to killing somebody’s dog which I absolutely don’t want to do, but absolutely will if required.

I was forced to kill my neighbors dog when it attacked me while holding my 2 year old daughter, INSIDE my fenced 1 acre property (about 15 years ago). IT was horrible. Not only did I have to discharge rounds while holding my daughter, but the neighbors proceeded to call the troopers on me with lies several times over the next few weeks following the incident. I reported the kill immediately, the troopers dispatched animal enforcement...who investigated the shooting, even performing an autopsy. I was cleared, but the whole experience was awful. I love dogs.

The next year they poisoned my puppy. We finally just moved.

Irresponsible pet owners are the worst.

That’s a terrible story, but I’m glad you were armed!

I remember you posting about that when it happened