Officer Kills Dog During Armed Robbery Investigation

Los Angeles: On Monday, January 28, 2008, at approximately 3:30 a.m., an officer shot and killed a pit bull while investigating an armed street robbery.

The incident began earlier in the evening when two suspects, described as male Hispanics, committed an armed street robbery at Sunset Boulevard and Gardner Street around 11 p.m. Using information associated with the suspects' vehicle, officers conducted a follow-up investigation at the South Los Angeles residence of the vehicle's registered owner.

An officer deployed to the backyard of the residence encountered a large pit bull where the dog was killed, and the two suspects from the residence were subsequently arrested and booked for robbery. No officers were injured in the incident.

Comments

[Mathew]

The dog did what it was supposed to do...protect it's yard. Why do LAPD officers always shoot dogs that protect their yard rather than using less lethal means such as Pepper Spray?

[Centurion]

Mathew, pepper spray is only effective when the dog is not in attack mode. Once the dog is committed to attacking, pepper spray is ineffective. Also, pepper spray is 100% effective for humans, that are not under-the-influence or mentally ill, however pepper spray was't made to spray dogs.

Go buy a can of pepper spray, have a dog attack you, and try to spray the dog before it bites you.

[El Tecolote]

Mathew,

There are approximately 40,000 gang members residing in the City of Los Angeles.

Owning a psychotic pit bull or some other type of dog with a "junkyard dog" mentality can be a status symbol among the local thugs. Many of these dogs are also raised to protect the ganstas drugs, guns and stolen cars.

Now let me clarify something for you. Every pit bull (American Staffordshire Terrior or American Pit Bull Terrior)is not a trained killer. I have met some very lovable pit bulls but they were owned by responsible adults.

Pepper spray has little or no effect on these animals, which have been raised to kill and maim. In tactical situations such as foot pursuits, officers do not always have the luxury of deploying less than lethal options on animals.

Did you happen to see any of the dog fighting videos associated with former Atlanta QB Michael Vick?

How effective do you think pepper spray would be on one of those dogs at 3:00 am if you jumped over a fence in their backyard in foot pursuit of a suspect?

[Robert Davis]

While this is a good point about dogs protecting their turf, let's put the blame where it belongs, on the robbers. Had the two men not decided to rob people, police would not have been at their home. By the way, thank you to the offices for getting two more criminals off the street and out of the neighborhood.

[joe]

Pepper spray doesn't always work.