Residents of Tulsa, Oklahoma, have harshly criticized officers with the Tulsa Police Department who tased and kicked a homeless man’s dog while making an arrest. A video of the distressing incident was posted online, sparking a firestorm of condemnation from netizens.
Police use pepper balls and taser on Boxer dog before arresting homeless owner
This past weekend, Tulsa police responded to reports of an ongoing altercation between two men. Upon arrival, they found Dylan Harris — who had been accused of assaulting the other man — in the company of his two dogs.
One of the dogs was tethered. The other, a Boxer, named Loop, had no leash, as per KJRH News reporting.
As officers approached Harris to arrest him, the Boxer, in an attempt to defend his owner, moved closer to the officers. It was then that one officer tased and struck Loop with pepper balls multiple times. Another officer proceeded to kick the dog. A bystander recorded the entire confrontation.
Tulsa Police Department Captain Richard Meulenberg argued that Harris failed to leash his dog as instructed by the officers. According to Meulenberg, the officers felt threatened by the canine, prompting them to fiercely protect themselves.
“The suspect had the two dogs, one dog was on a tether, and one was not, so they asked him several times, ‘Hey, put the dog on a leash, put the dog on a leash,” Meulenberg explained. “They asked him six times, and he didn’t do it.”
Harris, on the other hand, claims the officers acted too fast.
“You didn’t give me enough time at all, all you said was secure your dog — pop pop pop —secure your dog,” Harris stated. The homeless man maintains his dog isn’t aggressive.
Anita Davidson is a Tulsa resident who came across the video online. She told KJRH News: “The dog was close enough to the officer, it could have bitten him, but it didn’t. But he still kicked it and shot it with whatever the rubber bullets were. I just didn’t see the need for it.”
Unfortunately, incidents of police launching unprovoked attacks on dogs have soared. Recent findings on police violence against dogs revealed that 25–30 dogs die every day at the hands of police officers.
