Dog Shot And Killed During Police Chase
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Kingsport Police Officer Shoots Dog
Rich Hammonds says his dog did not pose a threat, Kingsport Police disagree, saying the officer who shot the dog was acting in self defense when the animals approached him in an aggressive manner....Kingsport Police got a call of some suspicious activity a couple of streets over from Rich Hammonds’ apartment on Derwood Court Sunday. When officers spotted a suspect and told him to freeze, the suspect fled. The chase led an officer into Hammonds’ yard, where the officer says three dogs approached him in an aggressive manner.
According to police, the officer tried to retreat from the yard, but fired at one of the animals in self defense. Hammonds’ blue pit bull Mace died from the bullet wounds. Hammonds says the dog was never an aggressive or mean dog. “Just because it’s a pit bull,“ says Hammonds, “doesn’t mean it’s a mean dog.“ Hammonds also says his other two dogs, which he says are American bulldogs, were behind his building when the incident happened.
The officer says all 3 dogs were approaching him, posing a threat. Kingsport Police Deputy Chief David Quillin says officers are trained for many things, but every scenario is different, and officers often only have seconds to react. “Sometimes we’re put in those positions where we have to take action we’d rather not take,“ says Quillin, “but we don’t have a choice.“ He adds, “The public or whoever will have days, and weeks, and months to mull over to try and decide if we were right in making a decision that we made with a half second’s notice.“
Hammonds says the killing of his dog was unnecessary, and wants the Kingsport Police Department to try and right the situation. “I want them to pay me for my dog,“ says Hammonds, “and an officer like that, they shouldn’t even be on the force.“
The District Attorney’s office is reviewing the incident. Police say that is standard procedure when an officer discharges a firearm on duty.
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Reader Reactions
I agree with you 100% whitehorse1011.
I also think the NRA needs to get involved if they do indeed stand for what they say.
Ron
I think the policeman is really blessed because if I heard someone in my yard shooting my dog especially at night, I wouldn’t gave him time to say that he was a cop before I shot him. I would think that there is someone in my yard shooting my dog and that my life was in danger too and would shot and asked questions later since this was in my fenced in yard.
I never gave this second thought until Kingsport Police Deputy Chief David Quillin came on T.V and said the officer had seconds to act. In other words, he was improperly trained. You jump the fence into someone’s yard and correct me if I am wrong but the property owner has a right to defend his property. Those dogs were protecting their territory. The officer should have had the training to know that once he jumped that fence, he was violating the home owners rights. This was not a matter of life and death. The officer and his boss and their system failed to act properly. The City should indeed be liable. The NRA should put their nose into this as this could have just as easily been the homeowner protecting his property with a gun but instead had dogs. Remember, he would have seconds to act also. Suppose the homeowner had run out into his enclosed yard with a gun as someone had just scared his dogs. Why didn’t the dogs attack the suspect. He too would have seconds to act.
This officer positively needs grounded and properly trained but not by the Kingsport police department.
Ronald
I would be furious if my dog got shot.
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