Dog Shot, Suspect Arrested In Concord Stolen Car Chase
CONCORD (BCN) - Concord police shot a seemingly aggressive dog on Monday when officers were searching a neighborhood for a suspect that had just led them on a car chase, a Concord police lieutenant said.
The incident began at about 8:10 p.m., when police were called by a woman who said that her car had been stolen from the front of her house in the 1800 of Lindenwood Drive, Lt. Andrew Gartner said.
The caller told police that her husband had gotten into his car and was following the suspect who had taken her vehicle, Gartner said. Police soon caught up to the stolen car and pursued it west, Gartner said.
The stolen vehicle was eventually abandoned on the 2100 block of Vernier Drive after being involved in a hit-and-run with a separate vehicle in that area, Gartner said.
The suspect fled the disabled vehicle on foot into the backyards of adjoining houses that surrounded the area, he said. Police, accompanied by two canine units, began searching the neighborhood yards, Gartner said.
When an officer and an assisting canine officer knocked on the front door of one home to alert the residents their backyard was about to be searched for a suspect, the homeowner's dog escaped the home through the open front door, Gartner said.
Gartner said he was too far away from the scene to determine the breed of the dog but described it "medium to moderate-sized."
The dog "became aggressive" toward both the officer and the officer's canine and "could not be controlled," Gartner said. The officer shot the dog once in the shoulder, he said.
Gartner said the dog's injury did not appear to be life-threatening and that the animal walked to its owner's car "on its own power" when the owner was taking the dog to an emergency veterinary clinic.
At the same time that the altercation and shooting with the neighborhood dog took place, officers were continuing the search for the carjacking suspect throughout an established perimeter in the neighborhood, Gartner said.
The search was eventually suspended, but within 45 minutes the suspect was found within the perimeter hiding in a tree, Gartner said. He was removed from the tree and arrested, he said.
The stolen car was returned to the owners either directly or through a towing and storage situation, Gartner said.
