The Amarillo Police Department is attempting to clarify an incident following a news story that an APD officer shot a dog.
Reports emerged this weekend that an officer had shot a dog. According to APD, a dog had escaped his fence in the 4500 block of South Wilson and began aggressively charging neighbors. The dog aggresively lunged toward the officer and the officer scared the dog away. The incident occurred a second time at which point the officer drew his firearm.
Since some have been asking questions about why the dog was not tased instead, APD explained that the taser is made for horizontal targets such as standing humans and not for small targets such as dogs.
APD called the incident "unfortunate" for all involved and also said, "Dogs that are territorial, angry, or frightened might not react like a family pet normally reacts, and officers do all they can to avoid this situation, but there are times when an officer must protect himself."
APD also cited dog bite incidents involving officers from 2011 and earlier in 2017.
For more information on the incident, visit the Amarillo Police Department on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AmarilloPolice.
