In Boston, police shot two dogs, leaving both with serious injuries and killing one.
According to WCVB, on Wednesday afternoon, Boston police officers shot the dogs inside a Dorchester apartment. Specifically, officers were there arresting a suspect with multiple arrest warrants who ran inside the building.
Per the Boston Police Department, at least one of the dogs bit an officer, who used their service weapon to defend themselves and others present at the scene. Unfortunately, one of the dogs, a 3-year-old Pitbull named Colby, died. Meanwhile, the surviving dog sustained serious bullet wounds.
Dogs shot by Boston Police were protecting their home, say owners
Colby’s owners claimed that police officers did not handle the situation properly and opened the bathroom door, where Colby was locked up, despite being told not to. They claimed that Colby was simply being protective and was not an aggressive dog.
One of Colby’s owners said, “That’s my son. I’ve had him since he was 6 weeks old. This really hurts me.”
Unsurprisingly, the incident highlighted the abusive use of force by police officers in such situations. Colby’s owner said that the police officers’ actions did not fit the crime and that shooting somebody’s pet is not okay.
“We kept telling them: ‘There’s dogs in the house,’ which they were in a locked bathroom. ‘Don’t go in the house and if you do, please don’t open the bathroom door. They don’t know you,'” said one of Colby’s owners. “He was a good dog…He was just protective of the house because he didn’t know them.” Audio from video footage captured by one of Colby’s owners recorded five gunshots going off.
Police officers suffered minor injuries
One of the officers was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries consistent with a dog bite. The other officer who shot the dogs was also sent to the hospital; a standard procedure when an officer fires their service weapon.
Understandably, Colby’s death struck the family hard. Although lethal force can be necessary, they steadfastly agreed that this was not one of those cases.
