My dog and I are being charged with assaulting an officer, do they have a case?

Question

I work nights so about 2a.m. I take my dog( AmStaff) for a walk in the park. I have for years.
This morning we were confronted by a German Shepard that growled at me or us for that matter.
We tried to avoid him,but he attempted to corner us and my dog became protective, grabbed him by the neck,shook him like a dog toy and pinned him.
Next thing I know there is a Police officer, gun drawn threatening to shoot my dog.
It turns out the shepard was a K-9 officer sent into the park to search for a burglary suspect.
I spent the night in jail, my dog is still at Animal Controll and we are being charged with assaulting the K-9 officer who agressed on us.
And YES! Pluto was on a leash the whole time.

Will the charges stick?

Answer 1

If nothing else, it will cost you legal fees. It seems to me the judge should consider that a K-9 dog confronting someone else and their pet is a definite threat to them. And one has to wonder why the K-9 wasn't on a leash, if there is a leash law. It seems the police officer made a grave error in judgement by allowing the dog to roam free, and in assuming the incident was your fault. How were you to know when first confronted that the K-9 wasn't just someone else's pet. Did he have a visible badge? You can only see what the judge has to say. If you are lucky, the police officer won't show; however, if the K-9 dog was injured, most likely it is policy that he be there.

Answer 2

If you did not know that the german shepard was a police K-9 looking for a suspect, and if your dog reacted without any commands from you, legally you "should" be exhonorated.

I put "should" in quotes because as previous posters have said, cops are automatically believed and not the citizens. So even if the way you said it happened is true, you still run a good chance of being convicted because the cop might say you purposely attacked him and his dog.

I don't think you have a court case against the police department or the city. Chances are the police officer didn't know you were in the park just as much as you claim you didn't know he was in the park. Police officers have to be very careful and assume everyone is a suspect until they can figure out who is the real criminal. If they don't, they could get shot. So you cannot prove that the cop intentionally mistreated you.

And for those people who pointed out that the K-9 was off the leash, the dog has to be in order to search for a suspect. The dog gets sent in so that the cop doesn't have to risk his life.

Answer 3

K-9 dogs in the police and military are on strict orders. they are considered a weapon as well as an officer. They are know to have a temper and can be impulsive. The officer in charge of the dog could be in serious trouble. From the way your story goes, the police dog was off-leash. If the dog did not have a reason to be off leash the officer in charge could face some serious consequences. Even if the dog was allowed off leash it sounds like the officer in charge did not do a good job of keeping watch of his "weapon".

Down side for you:

If no one else was around to witness, then you are s.o.l. buddy. The officer can lie and guess who will win. Definitely not the horrible citizen, but the victim officer.

Unfortunately there are cops that abuse their position. I will pray that God convicts the officer of his sin if he is lying.

We have spoken before friend, trust in the Lord, do not worry but give your troubles to the Lord. He is in control and definitely bigger and more powerful than this police officer. If the police officer was honest he would drop the case and apologize. If he does, accept the apology and do not follow up with a law suit or anything like that. Take it as God had your back and would not appreciate you trying to punish the officer after God let you out and gave you your dog back. Even though you could start some problems for that officer if you wanted to, IF he was honest about the situation......

If he told the truth, no the charges would not stick..... He was not in control of his "WEAPON" a dog like that is dangerous. I spent time in the Air Force Security Forces and I know that from experience. Some of the dogs aren't even nice to other cops, much less civilians.

Your dog was in self-defense and the officer was probably embarrased that his German Shep got tossed around. They need another DOG :-)

Answer 4

Mastiffs are naturally protective creatures and the officer is at fault if his animal was not on a leash, because animals are animals and police dogs are known to be overly aggressive and if your mastiff sensed that that means the dog had every right to protect you and the dog was doing his job. Bring the dog treats in puppy prison and give him a big hug for me.

Try to do what you can to defend your dog because in this case the officer is at fault, but you might have to get a good lawyer. Because the law will always try to side with the police officer even though he was negligent to keep his animal on a leash.

Answer 5

Of course you'll need an attorney.
You are a law abiding citizen walking his dog on a leash in a city park and threatened by a unknown dog. They should throw it out of court, but I am a true believer in your case is only as good as your attorney.

In one of the small communities west of here, a cop shot a family pet that was about 14 years old and said he felt threatened even though the dog was in his own yard and didn't do anything. It made the news, but nothing was done to the cop and the old couple who had the dog lost their baby.

Answer 6

If you do not get a good lawyer to defend yourself, your dog could get the death sentence and you could get serious jail time. If the facts are correctly stated by you, you could get both you & your dog off, and sue the city, but first you have to get a good lawyer.

The police should identify themselves when they encounter people, and the people should cooperate with the police.

The police have to be agressive, to deal with all the bad guys out there. The police dog probably ordered to find out who is in the park, and "order" those people to stay where they are until the police human arrives.

But you did not know that the dog confronting you was a police dog, you thought it was an enemy dog, that you needed to be defended against.

Likewise the police did not know who you were, an innocent in the park, or related to some criminal behavior.

What the police officer did see was confrontation between you and the police dog, so threatened to kill your dog to protect the police dog.

You need to get a good lawyer.

You might get better Yahoo answere if you posted this in category of Police, since this is not an ethics question, it is more a question of how laws are enforced, and how the justice system figures out the truth.

Answer 7

I would get an attorney. If everything you say is true, and you tried to avoid the dog first & got cornered you should have a case. The police officer shuld have been in sight of the dog. I don't think their allowed to turn them loose on people& if they are & he was looking for a specific burglar you are a diff. scent. The dog should not have cornered you. It sounds like a case of police bruised ego for their not so great canine patrol officer, & officer/wanna be trainer.Good Luck I hope you win.Then make them pay.

Answer 8

Get a good attorney, if your dog was protecting you, and the K-9 had no reason to bother you, that its not your fault and you will get away, long as your dog was on a leash and you didn't let him off, your attorney will find a way to get you out of it.

Answer 9

Probably not because there was no officer by him to tell he was a K-9 officer

Answer 10

1. Retain counsel. Your explanation has merit, but remember the old adage "He who defends himself in court has a fool for a client."
2. When the charges are dropped, file civil suit against the officer, his immediate supervisor and the department for violation of departmental SOP for conducting searches in public areas, wrongful arrest, and to recoup all your legal fees plus the fees the city will undoubtedly pass on to you for boarding your dog.