Cobb Police Chief Stuart VanHoozer said Monday that an internal investigation is continuing into the shooting death of a pet dog last week by an officer making a 911 call to a residence in South Cobb.
During a brief press conference at Cobb Police headquarters in Marietta, VanHoozer said that while the event was “tense and unpleasant,” no apparent department policies have been violated.
Cobb Police released a four-minute segment of officer bodycam footage from the Dec. 2 incident at a home off Macland Road near Powder Springs (see below; the video is graphic and reader discretion is advised.)
Police were responding to a 911 call about a reported missing person in the area when they arrived at the home of Justin and Tessa Carr around 8:40 p.m.. They own two dogs and according to the initial police report, the dogs began to leave the home.
Police said one of the dogs ran toward an officer, who “perceived the dog’s actions as potentially threatening” and then shot the animal in self-defense.
That dog was named Zeta (photo above), who was fatally wounded.
VanHoozer said Monday (you can hear his comments here) that he watched the video footage, pledging transparency and a better understanding of the incident. But he said he didn’t any conclusions about possible contact between the officer and the animal.
“Part of doing right is to look into what happened to see if we can do better as a profession,” he said.
He offered condolences to the family of Zeta, saying that “it’s very, very sad to lose a dog, a friend, man’s best friend.”
The officers have not been cleared of wrongdoing, and they are back on duty, VanHoozer said, adding that more information will be coming out as open records requests have been filed.
The Carrs have started a Facebook page and are raising funds for legal action they’re planning against the police.
They said on that page after the incident that Zeta never showed aggression to humans or animals, except for barking.
Tessa Carr said she took a video of the dog’s corpse and has no intention of releasing it publicly but “in case I need it for later.”
She added that “we are not going to stop until we have real answers. . . I wanna know what the Cobb County Police Department’s training looks like for situations like these. Most of all, I wanna know who’s gonna make this right for my family, my friends, and most of all Zeta.”
Editor’s Note: Viewer discretion is advised.
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…so, what has happened since? Have Cobb Police “uptrained” the force to select non-lethal alternatives? Pepper Spray or even a dart from a Taser would have sufficed. Discharging a service weapon…what 9mm…is excessive to say the best. What has happened here? What ‘uptraining’ is being done?
I offer to escourt ANY police person who has a ‘fear of dogs’ into Sweat Mountain Dog Park. Maybe institute an ‘operational reqquirement’ that each patrol spend 15 minutes a week inside any Dog Park will help.
Let’s do something to “fix this” and Make Cobb Better Again! Discharge of a service weapon is … serious stuff and the decision not a ‘knee or trigger finger jerk’. Please.