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Court Ruling To Allow Police To Shoot Dogs For Barking

Court Ruling To Allow Police To Shoot Dogs For Barking

What?

Josh Teal

Josh Teal

It looks like the police in America aren't gonna exactly 180 their poor reputation judging by this new law.

A federal court ruled that cops may shoot a dog if it moves or barks when he or she enters a home.

This bizarre ruling stems from one particular occasion in 2013 in Battle Creek, Michigan, when two dogs were shot dead by police during a search warrant in a couple's home.

One of the coppers told a judge that one of the pit bull's appeared to lunge 'a few inches' toward him.

After initially injuring it, the officer then pursued the dog down the stairs into the basement where he killed it. (RIP)

police dog
police dog

Credit: PA

One of them testified that "there was blood coming out of numerous holes in the dog and...did not want to see it suffer so he put her out of her misery and fired the last shot."

It is unconfirmed whether the court asked them why they bothered putting the dog in misery to begin with.

Mark and Cheryl Brown, the pit bull owners, claimed officers "unlawfully seized their property in violation of the Fourth Amendment when officers shot and killed two dogs while executing a search warrant."

Judge Eric Clay said that the couple did not provide good enough evidence that the dogs didn't lunge at the officers.

"Given the totality of the circumstances and viewed from the perspective of an objectively reasonable officer, the dog poses an imminent threat to the officer's safety," he wrote.

"The standard we set out today is that a police officer's use of deadly force against a dog while executing a search warrant to search a home for illegal drug activity is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment when... the dog poses an imminent threat to the officer's safety."

Featured image credit: PA

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Topics: Dogs