Officer kills dog that bit him while performing welfare check on Auburn teen
AUBURN — A police officer shot and killed a dog that attacked and bit him during a welfare check in Auburn last week, police said Monday.
An officer responded on the night of May 10 to a call from an 11-year-old boy who reported that his 14-year-old sister, whom he was home alone with, had run outside of their Cedar Avenue home and could not be found, the Auburn Police Department said.
When the officer arrived at the home, the siblings had opened the front door and a large dog charged through and toward the officer. The girl, who had returned to her brother while the officer was en route, was unable to restrain the dog.
The kids' parents — the family did not want to be identified — spoke to us Monday about what had happened. They said they were at a church function when they got a call from the police.
"I couldn't breathe when I heard that something had happened, my kids were standing right there," Mom said.
The dog, named Tank, jumped on the officer and bit him, which forced the officer to shoot the dog. Auburn police said four shots were fired with two hitting the dog.
"I was behind Tank when he was jumping on the officer and I didn't want to get in front of him because he pulled out his gun," the girl said.
The dog ran back into the home, but Auburn police confirmed the dog later died.
"It would be completely out of character for him to do something like that," Dad said of the family dog.
When the officer went to check on the siblings, both said they were OK but the girl had a cut on her leg. The girl was taken to an area hospital due to the possibility that the cut stemmed from a bullet fragment, police said.
She has since been released from the hospital.
The family feels more could have been done to avoid the use of lethal force.
"I just think he was taken from us and he shouldn't have been," Dad said of Tank. "There were other options."
Auburn police said that in this situation, there wasn't a lot that could have been done since it all happened so fast.
"We miss something very dear to us right now. That's our dog," Dad said.
Despite still not knowing if the girl's injuries were a result of the shooting, Auburn police said the incident is being investigated as an officer-involved shooting. The Placer County District Attorney's Office will aid in determining if the officer's actions were criminal or within department policy.