CANTON ‒ A dog owner is criticizing a city patrolman for fatally shooting her family’s 100-pound pet during the police response to a domestic disturbance at her home.
Police reports about Thursday night’s incident indicate the cane corso was shot after it moved aggressively toward the officer. Both the officer who shot the dog and another who witnessed it wrote that before the animal went toward the patrolman, family members refused police commands to put it in the house.
Amanda Bulick said her children – Landen, 12, Anthony, 9, and Ava, 7 – were traumatized by having their dog killed. She also said the officer’s actions threatened their safety.
“He shot with my kids in the driveway and in the yard,” she said. “He didn’t have a spotlight. There’s a bullet that ricocheted off the cement driveway, or something, that had struck the back of my vehicle, which was behind me, and he also hit my house. There’s a bullet hole in my pillar on my front porch.
“If he would have been shooting any further over, he would have shot me right in the middle of the face in front of my kids and everybody on top of killing my dog,” Bulick said.
She said her daughter was sleeping upstairs when the shooting occurred.
Video shows dog running at Canton police officer before shooting
A police video and audio recording of the exchange at 332 Tyler Ave. SE captured officers telling residents to put the dog inside at least five times before the patrolman shot the dog. The video confirms the officer’s statement that the dog, which had been running around and barking, moved toward him before he shot it.
Canton Police Chief John Gabbard said the officer’s actions are under review.
“We take the discharge of firearms by our officers very seriously,” Gabbard said in a prepared statement. “This incident is under review by our Office of Professional Standards, as is our practice with every instance when force is used. Unfortunately, police officers frequently have to respond to unpredictable, volatile situations and address threats of all kinds in order to preserve public safety.
“I have viewed the video and find it heartbreaking. The fact that these difficult situations are inherent in the nature of police work makes them no less devastating to everyone involved, including the officers,” he said.
The patrolman who shot the dog remains on regular duty.
Bulick said police should have handled the situation differently.
“All of the officers were yelling different demands,” Bulick said. “You had one officer yelling, ‘Get down.’ You had another officer yelling, ‘Put your hands up.’ You had the other officer yell, I guess, ‘Get your dog.’ They were all yelling. You don’t know what to do in that situation.”
Bulick said police shouldn’t have shot the dog, named Bella, because she didn’t leave the yard.
“They could have tazed her or pepper-sprayed her,” she said, adding that postal carriers have such spray to help them deal with animals. “Pepper spray would definitely get anybody off, a person or dog or anything.”
‘Like a murder scene’
After the dog was shot, it went back into the house, where it died. Bulick said Bella walked around inside the house, went into her cage and finally collapsed at the bottom of the steps.
“My house looks like a murder scene in my living room,” she said.
Bulick said she was unable to carry the dead dog from the house herself. She said she asked police to remove the dog, and they took it to the garage.
Police reports indicate that one officer, trained to handle a police dog, gave medical aid to the Bulicks’ pet.
No criminal charges had been filed against anyone from the household as a result of Thursday night’s conflict, in which several family members said they had been physically fighting.
Bulick described Bella as a well-trained dog who stayed in the yard. She said her daughter was able to walk the dog around the block.
“She was the biggest, sweetest baby. She was a good girl. They (police) definitely did her dirty,” Bulick said.
The American Kennel Club website says the cane corso, also known as the Italian mastiff, has a name that roughly translates from the Latin as “bodyguard dog.”
“Corsi are intelligent, loyal, eager to please, versatile, and intensely loyal to their humans, but are also assertive and willful, and can end up owning an unwitting owner,” the AKC site says. “As with any other big guardian dog, responsible breeding and early socialization with people and other dogs is vital.”
Reach Nancy at 330-580-8382 or [email protected].
On X, formerly known as Twitter: @nmolnarTR.
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