A Baltimore City police detective threatened to shoot a woman's dog at Annie’s Playground on Saturday after the animal ran toward him and his family, according to police.
The officer does does not face any charges because Harford County police determined he acted lawfully. The Baltimore City Police Department is conducting an administrative review of the officer's off-duty behavior.
A Perry Hall resident who was at the park on Saturday said about 50 families were around when the incident occurred.
“He got my attention because his voice was raised and he said, 'You see this gun?' And he was pointing toward his hip where it was holstered,” said Perry Hall resident Dee Megert, 43, a witness to the incident. “Then I heard him yell, ‘I’m going to shoot that dog,’ and when I looked up … he was pointing the gun at the dog.”
Harford County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived to the scene and spoke with the police officer, whose identity was withheld because he does not face charges.
According to a police report, a woman was walking her dog when it ran away from her and toward the detective and his wife, child, mother-in-law and his mother-in-law’s dog.
The officer then pulled his gun and warned the woman to get her dog under control or he would shoot it. When the woman caught up and grabbed the dog by the collar, the off-duty police officer holstered his gun. The police report lists the dog as a pit bull, but Megert said it was a “border collie size” mutt.
The woman told police that the gun was never pointed anywhere but at her dog. The police report states that the officer “acted within the law to protect himself and family by drawing the weapon.”
Megert, 43, was there with her 14-year-old daughter, 12-year-old son, her mom and sister, and her neighbor’s 13-year-old daughter. Her son, Jack, said he got a good look at the weapon.
“I saw a Glock. I think it was a .40 caliber. I don’t know for a fact,” he said. “It was silver and black. The rectangle on the side was silver and then the rest of the gun was black.”
Police originally said the city police officer did not remove his gun from its holster, but the police report indicates otherwise.
A spokesman for the Baltimore City Police Department said an internal investigation is being conducted.
“We were advised of the incident and that the Harford County Sheriff’s Office did an investigation. … We, in turn, opened a command investigation, which basically is an administrative review to make sure that no departmental policies and procedures were violated,” spokesman Anthony Guglielmi told Patch. “That investigation is still going on but at this point it appears that based on what the Harford County sheriff’s telling us, the officer was acting in a capacity to safeguard a family member.”
There are only a few reasons a dog will run up to to you. They want to play, they want to sniff, they want to be pet or the are going to bite you. The way i see it you have less than a 25% chance of being attacked by almost any dog "running" towards you. The problem i see is the fact the LEO didn't make it know he was a cop before he drew his weapon. "The officer then pulled his gun and warned the woman to get her dog under control or he would shoot it." Suppose someone would have been near this fellow and saw him pull a weapon and attempted to subdue him? If i was at a public park with my children and someone pulled out a weapon and i happened to be close enough to do something i probably would in an attempt to prevent harm to my children. Suppose i was within reach and clobbered him with my kids baseball bat? Would i be charged with assaulting a LEO? Also if you think there is a "leash law" in Harford county you are sadly mistaken. My Yellow Lab was attacked and killed by a neighbors Pitbull and animal control told me you do not have to have your dog on a leash as long as it is under verbal command. That is the citation the owner of the pitbull received and i think it was 35 dollars. The pictures of the dog in question don't even slightly resemble a pitbull.
My neighbor was cited for not having their pitbull "under verbal command" when it attacked my Yellow Lab who died the next day as a result of the fist sized hole in her chest.in this case if the dog stopped when the owner called its name after Robocop pulled the bazooka out then she was not violating the law. There is currently no state leash law in Maryland. Many dogs are escape artists as my Lab was able to back her way out of every contraption we tried even the escape proof harness. If the dog wants out bad enough it will get out. I would be more concerned about a over zealous LEO with the power to take a life animal or human pulling out a firearm in a public place with a hundred or more people around.
The off-duty Baltimore City police officer who pointed his gun at a dog and allegedly threatened to kill it at Annie’s Playground on March 12 will not be disciplined, said a spokesman for the Baltimore City Police Department.
The fact that this cop is a dog owner, you would think he knows *something* about dogs and dog behavior . . . . it's so common for a loose dog to come up to other dogs to try to play, meet and greet . . . In fact, other dog owners, being dog people very often will ASSIST another dog owner in catching their loose dog in that situation--I've done it many times myself. It's true that sometimes a dog may be coming up aggressively, but if you've had a dog any amount of time, and you have such a public job where it's inevitable you'll be encountering dogs, I think it's a pretty sad statement if you can't tell the difference. Other witnesses attest to this dog's gentle calm behavior. I'd be curious to know the other witnesses' read on the officer's dog--the way he was being jerked back, etc. I'm wondering if the reason for all the panic is that his own dog is not good, or leash reactive with other dogs . . . just wonderin' what others have to say about that.
Because everyone is ok (including the pup!) There is a more important battle at hand here. When this story first came out, it probably came out as another "vicious pit bull on the loose", and even if it didn't, it stated the dog was a pit bull, and is just another statistic to get it into the minds of people that pit bulls are horrible, mean, bad dogs. Everyone needs to take a look at that. Look at the statistics... BSL is a very real thing, and how do they tell if your dog is of the "pit bull" type? they pull out a dressmakers tape measure, measure his chest and his hinds legs, and if measures correctly, he is taken away to be euthanized. There have been many mistakes, that unfortunately ended in death and could obviously not be undone. I believe that it is just horrible, whenever there is a negative dog story, everyone presumes 'pitbull' i own have owned and have met the nicest dogs, all of which were pitbulls. They are the most loving, forgiving, caring animals in this world. Having a pit bull really just makes life better everyday.