By Darcy Spears.
North Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) --
Police killing pets has once again landed North Las Vegas in court. This as dog
owners seek justice on a federal level over losing their two pit bulls.
"I never had any kids and
he was the closest thing I ever had to a son," said Tom Walker, through
tears.
He's talking about a Pit Bull
named Blue and his daughter, Pinky. Both dead at the hands of North Las Vegas
Police.
We talked to Walker and his
girlfriend, Cathy Cataldo, in February.
"I think they should be held
responsible for murdering my babies. Because that's what they did,"
Cataldo said.
In a federal lawsuit filed this
week, the couple is suing the North Las Vegas Police Department and two
officers for killing their dogs when SWAT served a narcotics search warrant at
their home on Sept. 14, 2012.
"The Ninth Circuit has
made clear that people have a constitutional right not to have their pets
unnecessarily killed by police officers when they're executing search
warrants," explained their attorney, Maggie McLetchie.
Police spoke to us in February,
explaining it was a high-risk situation.
"They're hoping for the
best but they're planning for the fact that these dogs could very well be
trained to be weapons against us," said NLVPD Sgt. Chrissie Coon.
The lawsuit said North Las
Vegas Police "engaged in a policy and practice of deliberate
indifference" in regard to the dogs.
"Rather than try to
diffuse the situation or come up with a plan to address these canines,"
said McLetchie, "it looks to me like they just shot and killed these dogs
without asking questions."
Before serving the warrant,
officers had set up surveillance of the home where they could see the front
door and the "Beware of Dog" sign in front of the gate.
The lawsuit says "Pinky
and Blue were inside the fence walking to the backyard to go to the bathroom
when officers approached the house," but "officers did not yell hold
your dogs before entering the gate."
"I couldn't even speak
before they started shooting," Walker told Contact 13 in February.
"As soon as the gate opened they were firing. My dogs didn't have a
chance."
The lawsuit says the "dogs
had their backs toward the officers at all times, did not threaten or harm the
officers and did not even look at or bark at the officers."
The Walker's home video posted
on You Tube shows a trail of blood all around the property from Blue, who was
shot six times.
"They shot him in the
butt, the hip, the shoulder," said Cataldo. "They chased him all the
way around the back until he was hiding under a wheelbarrow. And that's when
they started shooting at him again."
They say Pinky, a 10-month-old
puppy; didn't make it past the front steps.
"Pinky was laying right
there in a pool of blood and her legs were shaking," Walker said.
In the lawsuit, Walker also
alleges that an officer ordered him to crawl on his stomach, then kicked him in
the head and told him not to look at Pinky.
When Darcy Spears contacted
North Las Vegas Police, they told her their City Attorney's office hadn't been
served or been able to review the complaint.
In February, their account of
what went down was very different from what the lawsuit says.
"Members of the SWAT team
did tell them to put their hands in the air and also gave them orders to
"grab your dogs, grab your dogs," Sgt. Coon said in February. "The male suspect stepped to the side so
that the dogs could get between the male and the female suspect and run towards
the SWAT team."
North Las Vegas says officers
serving a search warrant are faced with the challenge of providing safety for
the neighborhood, the officers, the dwelling's occupants and any animals
involved during a dynamic, high risk situation.
The lawsuit calls North Las
Vegas' policies and practices "unlawful... permitting its officers to
shoot pet dogs" without reasonable justification. It also alleges
"negligent training and supervision."
"I don't think they're
shooting dogs because they want to kill anybody's pet," said
McLetchie. "But I do think that
they're wrongfully assuming that when they go to the door, if a dog comes to
the door--approaches them--that the dog is vicious and needs to be shot."
In 2012 and 2013, North Las
Vegas Police shot 19 dogs. Fifteen of
them died.
Better training for officers in
dealing with dogs will come up in the 2015 legislative session.
In serving the warrant, North
Las Vegas Police recovered some meth, a stolen handgun and one person was arrested
for three felony counts.
