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Police officer caught on CCTV shooting family’s emotional support dogs

'These dogs aren’t just family members, they make my kids’ days possible'

Loulla-Mae Eleftheriou-Smith
Tuesday 11 July 2017 15:45 BST
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Policeman shoots family's support dogs in CCTV footage

A police officer has been caught on a security camera shooting a family’s two emotional support dogs after entering a property in Minneapolis.

Jennifer LeMay said her 13-year-old daughter saw the incident from inside her home.

The dogs are emotional support animals that the family has had since they were puppies.

The family got the Staffordshire terriers, named Ciroc and Rocko, for Ms LeMay’s two sons who suffer from severe anxiety, the Star Tribune reports.

Security camera footage of the incident shows the officer standing in the family’s yard and holding his gun, as one of the dogs trots towards him, wagging his tail.

The policeman shoots the animal, which falls down and scrambles out of shot as the second dog runs forward and is shot three times. The officer then scales the family’s fence around their property and leaves.

The video was shared thousands of times on Facebook. Ms LeMay told the newspaper the first dog was wagging his tail and “wasn’t even moving, lunging toward him or anything. My dogs were doing their job on my property”.

A police report filed after the incident and seen by the newspaper claimed that “two large size pitbulls charged the officer”.

A Minneapolis police officer visited the family’s home on Sunday to discuss the incident and extend their condolences.

“These [dogs] aren’t just family members,” Ms LeMay told CBS Minnesota. “They make my kids’ days possible. They make it possible for my kids to be able to function in their day-to-day life.”

A spokesperson for the Minneapolis police department said the incident is being investigated by the Internal Affairs Unit and the security footage is being reviewed alongside the footage from the officer’s bodycam.

Minneapolis Police Chief Janee Harteau later released a statement and called the footage “difficult to watch,” while assuring people the force is helping the family with its veterinary bills and implementing mandatory training for officers encountering dogs.

“I’ve watched the video, and as someone whose family has included dogs most of my life, I can say that it was difficult to watch. This was an outcome no one wanted,” she said.

“To help prevent similar outcomes in the future, we will be implementing updated mandatory training specifically for officers identifying effective tools and tactical strategies with police and dog encounters. We want both our officers and all our community members to be safe,” she added.

The family have set up a GoFundMe page to cover the costs of the veterinary bills, with a goal of $15,000 (£11,600). The page has raised more than $26,600 (£20,500) in one day.

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