Calexico Police Officers Shoot Two Dogs While Serving a Warrant
CALEXICO – On Wednesday, officers serving a warrant shot two dogs in Calexico following the arrest of a suspect reported to be carrying narcotics.
Carlos Moreno Jr., 24 of Calexico was stopped for a traffic violation in the 700 block of Paulin Avenue in Calexico. Officers noted that Moreno was acting agitated and called in a K9 unit. The canine officer alerted to the presence of narcotics and police reportedly found about 12.5 grams of methamphetamine and packaging material in the vehicle.
Officers arrested Moreno and obtained a search warrant for his home in the 200 block of Espinoza Street. When police entered the home, a dog reportedly tried to attack an officer and was shot. When the officers walked out of the home, they reported a second aggressive dog that was also shot.
The shooting of two canines in Calexico may have been justified, but an article by journalist Conor Friedersdorf in The Atlantic this week asks if dogs are needlessly being shot by police officer’s across the country. While there are genuine reasons for an officer to defend himself or herself against attack, there are many incidents where the shooting is deemed unnecessary by the dog’s owner.
Last March in San Bernardino, California, Rosemary Cuevas heard the gunfire when police shot her 3-year-old Dalmatian mix, Julio in her backyard. She had called 911 about a wire robbery occurring in a vacant residence behind her house. An officer jumped into her backyard to get access to the scene. When Julio ran toward the officer, he shot the dog. Julio survived the ordeal, but he is just one example of many noted by journalists such as Radley Balko at The Huffington Post.
Groups advocating for change and training officers to read dog behavior are popping up everywhere, including a Facebook watch dog page called “Dogs Shot by the Police” which has more than 9,000 likes. Balko states, “An officer untrained in recognizing a dog’s body language, for example, could easily mistake a bounding dog from a charging one, a nervous dog from an angry one, or an aggressive dog from one that’s merely territorial.”
Both dogs in the Calexico incident were taken to a veterinarian. One of the dogs had to be euthanized, while the other was treated for wounds.
Read More:
Imperial Valley Press: Two dogs shot after attacking police in Calexico
