The Painesville Police Department investigated a report that one of its officers kicked a dying dog. The department has concluded its officer could have handled the situation differently.
In a statement, the police said:
"The officer admitted to nudging the dog with his foot in order to make certain he would not be bitten before picking up the dog. The officer, (unaware children were watching), grabbed the dog by its front legs, and loaded it into the truck of another officers cruiser who had arrived on scene to assist."
A woman posted her account of what happened on her Facebook page Thursday. In the post, she said the dog was hit by a car outside of her workplace. People stopped to comfort the dog as it was dying.
"As the (p)ainesville police officer arrived he then grabbed the dog by her legs kicked her in the head n threw her in the trunk of his cruiser," she wrote. "I could never have been more pissed off on my life! Mind you there were children standing there about 6 years old or so that were saying a prayer for her as he did this. I would have put her in the trunk if I knew he was going to do that very uncalled for!!! The (p)ainesville officer was very heartless!"
After concluding the investigation, the Painesville police said:
"We are fully aware that those observing this incident were upset by the abrupt manner in which the officer loaded the dog into the trunk of a cruiser. This could have been alleviated by waiting for another officer to assist, so that the process of picking the dog up would have been more discreet. Doing so would have of course been preferable, and would have allowed us to avoid the appearance that he did not care about the animal."
The police statement also said that the department "deeply regret(s) that anyone had to observe this incident and apologize to them for having to have seen this take place. We will be making certain that incidents like this will not be handled in this manner in the future, and this incident is under review by myself and our internal investigations supervisors to determine what discipline and or corrective measures will be taken regarding this incident."
