By Christina Hall
A St. Clair Shores woman whose dog was shot
multiple times by city police last year has filed a federal lawsuit alleging
two police officers responding to a barking dog complaint set out from the
start to kill the mixed breed even though it was posing no danger.
Brittany Preston charges in the lawsuit that
her dog, Lexie, was shot four times by police and then dragged away wounded to
an animal control truck. Instead of being taken to a veterinarian for
treatment, the dog was shot four more times, the lawsuit alleges.
Preston filed the lawsuit this week in U.S.
District Court against the City of St. Clair Shores, police Officers David
Jacquemain and Jeremy Moskwa, and animal control officer Tom Massey.
The lawsuit alleges that immediately upon
arriving on the scene, one of the two officers was recorded on a dash cam as
saying he was going to shoot the dog. The lawsuit claims the officers shot the
dog three times as it stood on the side porch and then, after it ran into the
bushes, yelping in pain, shot it a fourth time.
Officers used a neck noose on a pole to drag
the wounded dog to an animal control truck, where the lawsuit says it was left
for at least 90 minutes. A police report said the dog died as it was being
transported to get medical help, according to the lawsuit.
But Christopher Olson, Preston’s attorney, said
a later necropsy conducted by a veterinarian hired by Preston showed the dog at
some point had been shot four more times.
“What really is shocking to me and upsetting to
Brittany is after it was taken … it has 15 (entry and exit wounds).”
Warunek accidentally left the dog outside the
home in the early morning hours of Nov. 22. About 7:15 a.m., a neighbor
reported a loose pitbull at Princeton and Walton that had been barking for 90
minutes and was on someone’s porch.
Officers arrived and while the dog was barking
from Preston’s front porch, an officer was recorded on police dash cam stating
“The only thing I’m gonna do is shoot it. I do not like dogs.” Subsequent dash
cam audio recording revealed an officer stating “I don’t do snares, I don’t do
dogs … I’ll shoot the (expletive) thing.”
Police claimed the dog was shot because it
attacked them, but the lawsuit alleges the dog was merely barking, not
targeting the officers.
Aside from monetary damages, Olson said he
wants to “make sure this doesn’t happen again.” He said because of the
incident, which has gone viral and has a Facebook page “Justice for Lexie,” he
is receiving many calls from people across the country relaying experiences of
officers shooting dogs.
Contact Christina Hall: chall99@freepress.com
