Posted on 02/25/2012 6:09:38 AM PST by marktwain
The Prescott city prosecutor is reviewing whether to file charges of discharging a firearm within city limits after a woman told an officer she shot at a large pit bull dog Monday that jumped up on her backyard fence while she was in her fenced yard with her 4-year-old and 7-month-old children and their small dog, said Prescott Police Lt. Andy Reinhardt.
When the officer told the woman that he would forward the report to the city prosecutor for review, she said she understood, but had only shot at the dog out of self-defense, according to the police report.
The woman told the officer that she, her children, and their dachshund were in their fenced backyard on Bear Drive after 5 p.m. when her dog started barking next to the fence, and the pit bull came over to the fence and started climbing it.
The woman said she put her children inside her house, shut the door, and called her dog to come to her, but the pit bull jumped up on the fence and was about to get over so she shot one round at the dog, police said. The woman told the officer she was in fear for herself, her children, and her dog and that she had called Animal Control about this dog in the past.
(Excerpt) Read more at dcourier.com ...
Shooting dogs without a badge is a no-no.
SO TRUE!
Damn, beat me to it! I’ll say it anyway, she should have claimed to be a cop and they could have all gone off for a beer and a good laugh afterward!
No harm no foul. Had she hit someone or thing behind the target then yes, but since that doesn’t seem to be the case then let her go with a warning.
Why a warning? From what I can tell, she did nothing wrong.
If it takes the prosecutor more than a microsecond to mull over this and then drop the charges, it is time for the prosecutor to mull over retirement before the electorate mulls over making that forced retirement.
Shouldn’t the prosecutor, et. al, be concerned about a viscous pit bull roaming free?
She should have waited until the dog attacked her children, called the police and waited until they arrived to shot the dog then the moronic prosecutor would not be burden with the difficult decision.
If she had waited for the cops, they would have shot her dachshund after the pit bull mauled the kids...
Damn, beat me to it! Ill say it anyway, she should have claimed to be a cop and they could have all gone off for a beer and a good laugh afterward!
Yes, I hate thick and gooey dogs.
I’m a dog lover, but this woman was clearly in the right.
That the Prosecutor needs to “think this over” indicates he either needs another job, or they have nothing serious to worry about in that burg.
*ouch*
Yeah, that one gave me a chuckle.
Do they have an exemption for firing in self-defense against humans?
True. Watery dogs are much nicer.
Yes,
C. This section does not apply if the firearm is discharged:
...9. In selfdefense or defense of another person against an animal attack if a reasonable person would believe that deadly physical force against the animal is immediately necessary and reasonable under the circumstances to protect oneself or the other person.
I agree, but it keeps the anti-gun crowd from getting their knickers in a twist and it's completely meaningless.
Appeasement rhetoric is cheap and since it's utterly pointless but makes the worriers feel safe then let them use it.
That’d be about a 50W90 dog at least, wouldn’t it?
Kinda like certain brands of hypoid oil.
That bite would be real bad, and nevermind the bark from it.
Anybody seen Cthulu in the area?
Yeah, sorta an Oilpit Bull...
Yes. We call it "Constitutional Carry". :-)
Nail’s it.
She is lying. She was afraid of the neighbors dog and saw an excuse to pop it. If the situation was really dire and the pit bull had got into her yard, then sure she had the right to kill it. This isn’t the case. She had time to put the kids in the house and retrieve a gun, then she had time to grab the Dachsund on the way in.
I don’t really blame her. If I had a neighbor with an agressive pit bull I worried might get over the fence, I would be on a hair trigger myself. Sounds like she just had enough and saw an opportunity to get rid of the problem.
Looks a bit like another ambitious prosecutor looking to make political hay over persecution of a citizen and ready to put career advancement before justice....
It seems to happen a lot these days.
...The woman told the officer she was in fear for herself, her children, and her dog and that she had called Animal Control about this dog in the past....
The pits owner chould have taken care of it before it got to this. When I had a problem with neighbors pitbulls trying to get at my dog through the fence I told him if the dogs attacked my dog I would come after him (slightly stronger words were used) as it would be his fault. He chained the dogs up till he moved.
My dog got bit by a different pit coming out of the groomers store and it cost me $200 for vet fees the owner had nothing. If I hadn’t stuck my leg out he would have bitten my dog in the throat. Fortunately he didnt get me, imagine what that would have cost.
Shoot the pit bull; hang the owner.
LOL
I’m not a fan of pitbulls. My German Shepherd has been charged by them twice on walks in the neighborhood, both loose on the owners property. Fortunately nothing came of it.
I won’t say they are inherently dangerous but I will say they are the MOST dangerous breed of dog and while rare, they can lose it for no reason and turn on an owner of other dogs.
No, I am no fan of pit bulls. They were bred to fight and they do. I wouldn’t want a pet that was carefully bred to be a fighting dog. No thanks.
Still, this lady is lying. In any even, she solved her problem.
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