In Lodi, California, a distraught family wants answers after they say police used a taser on their dog and killed him on Tuesday after the dog accidentally escaped from his home.
According to the Lodi Police Department, officers received a report about a dog chasing young children into their home located in a nearby neighborhood. Supposedly, the dog was trying to bite them.
Officers responded to the home where the dog had tried to enter and reported the following:
The dog then began to try to get through the resident’s side gate, to attack their dog. When our Animal Services Officer arrived in the area, they saw a citizen using a piece of wood to block himself and his pet dog, from the vicious dog. Numerous attempts were made to try to catch the dog, however they were unsuccessful. Our Animal Services Officer tried to place the snare on the dog twice, but it broke free both times. LPD Officers had responded to assist our Animal Services Officer. At this time the aggressive dog approached a group of individuals that were standing out front of their residence and the officer deployed his taser, which is a less lethal device, to stun and incapacitate the dog, in order to give our Animal Services officer the opportunity to safely secure the dog. Unfortunately, during the incident the dog passed away. Lodi PD and Animal Services have been in contact with the dog’s owners.
Police statement
Aline Galeno was the owner of the three-year-old husky named Enzo. She described her dog as loving and “goofy.” Aline stated her dog should never have been tased and had never been aggressive. The dog died after being tased multiple times.
Animal Control should have taken control of the situation because he had all the tools to deal with that and he didn’t. And he kind of stood back and let the cop tase.
Eyewitness
According to AbcNews, a neighbor who lives in front of where police tased the dog, stated the dog had been wagging his tail and had just been looking up at the animal control officers who could have easily placed the humane snare around Enzo’s neck.
Another neighbor, who witnessed the very disturbing scene, also agreed that tasing the dog was unnecessary.
Witnesses uploaded the video to social media where an officer could be seen using the taser on the dog. The dog fell and then got up after the first time, but then he was tased again. The dog fell, and then a snare pole was looped around the dog’s neck, and he was dragged to the animal service truck.
Neighbors had described Enzo as friendly. Enzo and three other dogs escaped their home through the front door the day of the incident. Galeno was able to find one of the dogs, and the other two dogs returned home soon after on their own. Galeno chased after Enzo and even called animal services to ask for help.
In direct contradiction however, in the area where the chasing incident originally occurred, neighbors said they had seen Enzo there before with two other huskies – chasing and trying to chase down neighborhood cats. Galeno denies those were her dogs.
On Friday, a formal complaint was filed against the Lodi Police Department, and an internal investigation is being conducted.
Rest in peace Enzo.
Check out the video (disturbing content and may not be suitable for all viewers)
(Photos via Facebook)
