This is the disturbing moment a police officer shot a pet dog dead even though the dog had hurt no one, and no crime had been committed at the home.
A Topeka, Kansas police officer decided that the best way to check on an alarm call was to fatally shoot a tiny 26-pound dog at the residence.
Local WIBW reports that Josie, a miniature pinscher mix, that was cared for by a retired judge, was standing in her own yard when Officer Michael Cruse arrived on the scene.
Almost on sight, Cruse shot her multiple times, killing the tiny dog instantly.
The Kansas City Star reports that the incident took place back on July 13th of this year.
The small dog was cared for by Harriette Macnish and her husband, James, who describes himself as a retired Shawnee County district judge.
Harriett had just barely arrived home when the dog-killing cop showed up.
“I went and looked in the front yard and saw a police car. I came back around and he was bent down. Josie was running toward him. It was her yard and she didn’t know him. And he shot her twice and killed her.”
Cruse said he feared an “imminent attack” from the tiny dog.
Harriette said that the dog does bark at strangers who enter the yard, but that she has never bitten anyone, including this officer.
“She wasn’t aggressive. The only thing she’s ever bitten was a dead squirrel. She was just one of the friendliest creatures you’ve ever met.”
The alarm call turned out to have been cancelled, but the police dispatch had not received the message yet. There was no intruder, just a security alarm that didn’t get deactivated quickly enough, so the responding officer decided that a barking 26 pound dog needed to die.
Watch the disturbing bodycam footage of the incident: