Washington State Family Sues Over Killing Of Dog in Neighbor’s Backyard

There is another lawsuit against a police department for shooting a family dog without provocation. The latest victim is Rosie, a 3-year-old Newfoundland belonging to Charles and Deirdre Wright in Washington state. Rosie got loose and ended up in the backyard of Lora Perry. Perry said that police came and shot and killed Rosie who was not being aggressive in any way in her yard. The Wrights have now filed a civil rights suit.

While the police department cleared the officers, Perry says that officers let her own dog out of her yard and waited for an officer to arrive with a rifle to kill Rosie. They fired four times at the dog which Perry described as just “sniffing around.”

This is the latest in a long line of such tragic cases (here and here and here are examples). Courts historically have been less than sympathetic in such cases where the dog has run away. As noted earlier, the value of such pets is quite limited as chattel. The true damages are often secured through a claim by the owners for intentional infliction of emotion distress or negligence.

Source: Seattle Times as first seen on ABA Journal