PGHIMC - Pittsburgh Independent Media Center

Pit Bull shot by Police
by Concerned Tuesday, Oct. 07, 2003 at 10:12 AM

North Side: Owner of pit bull wonders why police shot dog

Acticle in yesterdays Post Gazette. Details are not available. Police are not commenting. Something needs to be done. I have filed a couple complaints online and have contacted PETA. Staff writer, Rebekah Scott is encouraging folks to contact the mayors office. I would like to get in touch with the dogs owner and if anyone else has some helpful ideas............

http://www.city.pittsburgh.pa.us/mayor/html/mayors_service_center_request.html

North Side: Owner of pit bull wonders why police shot dog

Monday, October 06, 2003
By Rebekah Scott, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

A K-9 police officer shot a pit bull early yesterday morning on the North Side, claiming that the dog was threatening his canine partner.

But Tom Cooper, the dog's owner who lives on Butterfield Way, says it couldn't have happened that way.

About 2:20 a.m. yesterday, Cooper said he knocked off working on a car in his driveway and went inside his house for a drink.

Pepsi, his year-old black-and-white pit bull, was standing at an open gate at the end of the driveway, looking out on Redour Street.

"I heard a gunshot, and a yelp," Cooper said. "I ran out in the driveway, and there she was laying, all bloody on her side."

Cooper said the street was full of police cars and patrolmen, including several city Housing Authority officers.

"Who shot my dog?" he said he shouted at them.

"And one guy comes pushing through and says, 'I shot your dog. It's a pit bull. Those dogs are vicious.' Pepsi never bit anyone. She might've barked at him, but she wouldn't leave the yard. She was shot for no reason. Maybe he was a rookie, maybe he was showing off for all those other cops."

Cooper took the wounded dog to an emergency veterinarian in Shaler, where she was euthanized at 4 a.m.

Yesterday afternoon, police officers at the North Side station made howling noises as an officer produced a report about the incident. Police would not provide any details about the shooting.

The Coopers buried their dog in a narrow garden, a yard or two from where she fell.

"We haven't told the kids yet, but the 3-year-old, I think she knows," Cooper said.

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