Family Receives $70,000 after Police Officers Shot and Killed two Dogs
Litigation - Article Series from All-Creatures.org Articles Archive

FROM Nathan Winograd
Facebook posting, April 16, 2021

The information provided by that informant turned out to be false and no one in the family was charged with a crime. Although the officers who killed the dogs were not reprimanded or fired, the City has since changed its policy on serving such warrants.

The City of St. Paul, MN, has agreed to pay $70,000 to a family whose two dogs were shot and killed by police officers in front of their children. According to the Complaint, one of the dogs was laying down at the time and the other was running away from police towards the safety of his human family. Neither of the dogs showed any aggression to police.

The dogs were killed when officers served a no-knock warrant based on a confidential informant. The information provided by that informant turned out to be false and no one in the family was charged with a crime. Although the officers who killed the dogs were not reprimanded or fired, the City has since changed its policy on serving such warrants.

Every year in the U.S., thousands of dogs are shot by police. But thanks to bodycam and cell phone evidence, families are increasingly fighting back and winning. Following lawsuits proving the officers committed perjury in their reports, juries are awarding million dollar verdicts. Increasingly, cities are settling for tens of thousands and in some cases hundreds of thousands of dollars to avoid those outcomes.

That won't bring the dogs who are killed back. But it may hold police departments accountable. In fact, a Kansas study found that most police officers receive no training on safe animal handling even though 90% of police officers want it. The study concluded that "Kansas Law Enforcement Officers perform animal control duties — many without the proper training — even though most consider such training to be important to be able to perform their duties safely."

Although the study looked at officer safety (i.e., to prevent risk of rabies), such training is also very important to dogs and the people who love them. In fact, one department — in neighboring Kansas City, MO — reduced the shooting of dogs by 80% after officers were trained by a dog behaviorist and adopted new practices consistent with that training.

Similarly, Niagara County police use fire extinguishers instead of guns to repel dogs: “It’s very noisy and very cold. It tastes bad. But it doesn’t do any damage to the dog. ‘I’ve talked to many, many officers who have used fire extinguishers, and I have never heard of a case where they didn’t work.’”

Dogs are family. And dogs have rights. Likewise, officers deserve the tools they need to do their jobs safely, effectively, and humanely (and to be held accountable by firing and criminal prosecution for perjury and animal abuse when they intentionally fail to do so). 

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