Deputy Shoots Dog in Owner's Yard

A deputy shot a bull mastiff-pit bull mix in the front yard of a duplex Sunday morning, after responding to a 911 call accidentally made from the residence. The dog, which was shot in the eye, was euthanized later at an emergency animal hospital.

Kathleen Derosa, who was home alone in the 5000 block of 21st Street West,  said the family's four dogs got out into the front yard, which was not fenced, after the deputy banged on her window and insisted she open the door, because a 911 call had come from the home.

Derosa, who had surgery for lung cancer earlier this year, said later that she did not fault the deputy for responding to the 911 call or wanting to check on the house. But she said that he had no reason to shoot the dog. "He didn't come here and help," she said. "He came here and shot the dog."

According to the Manatee County Sheriff's report, Deputy Will Kelley shot the dog at about 10:40 a.m. when the 65-pound canine "aggressively lunged" at the officer and tried to bite him.

According to the Sheriff's report, four dogs pushed past Derosa as she tried to squeeze out of the front door to talk to the deputy, who wanted to come inside to make sure everything was OK. According to the report from Sgt. Kelley he had knocked on the front door.

The sheriff's department will review the shooting as part of its routine procedures whenever a deputy fires a gun, said Dave Bristow, a spokesman for the sheriff's office.

Derosa said that the neutered bull mastiff-mix was protective and exuberant, because he was a puppy. He was jumping, she said, but not lunging and never showed his teeth before the deputy shot him.

She also said the deputy refused her request to shoot the dog again and put him out of his misery, when she realized the animal was still alive.

Derosa said that she and her son took the animal to an emergency vet, after both the deputy and animal control declined to help care for or transport the animal.

According to Derosa, the dog that was killed and another large dog – who were both from the same litter – apparently dialed 9-1-1 without her knowlege. They had been playing on the sofa inside the house next to the home phone.

Derosa said she noticed the phone was off the hook and there was a busy signal. She hung up the receiver without realizing the dogs had actually hit the buttons to summon deputies.

According to Derosa, when Deputy Kelley arrived, she was able to get two of the family's four dogs — a bull mastiff/pit bull mix and a chihuahua — back into the house immediately.

But her terrier mix, Boo, and her son's other bull mastiff/pit bull mix, Ozzie, didn't immediately come back inside.

Derosa said that the deputy yelled at her to control the dogs and get them back in the house. She said she saw him pull a weapon out, but she thought it was a Taser gun, not a firearm.

She said he continued to yell at her about the dogs, which only made Ozzie more excited.

Derosa said that she quickly scooped up her 30-pound terrier to keep him from getting shocked and turned to bring him inside the house. That's when she heard the deputy's gun go off. She looked back to see Ozzie lying on the ground and blood covering his face.

Her neighbor, Clinton Hinsz, doesn't see it the same way. He said that he watched the entire scene from the front seat of his truck parked on the street about 50 feet away.

Hinsz said Derosa seemed dumbfounded and couldn't control the dogs. He said the one that was shot was aggressive and that the officer had no choice but to shoot.

"He told her to call off the dogs and three backed off," Hinsz said. "She didn't try to pull the dog off, and it looked like he was going to lunge. The way I look at it the officer had no choice but to use physical force."

Hinsz said that the deputy backed up about 15 feet or more — from the center of the porch to the driveway in the yard — before he shot the dog.

"Whether he's a puppy or a full grown dog, if I'm that deputy, I'm thinking I've got a wife and kids to go home to, compared to a dog," Hinsz said.

Hinsz said shortly before the deputy arrived and the dogs got out of the house, his neice and nephews, between the ages of 2 and 5 years old, had wanted to go outside to play.

Derosa said that there were other neighborhood children outside when the shooting occurred, and that the deputy should have considered that as well.

Hinsz said he believes the two large dogs were too big for Derosa or her daughter to control them. He said it's not the first time the dogs have gotten out of the house and that they have frightened him before. He said if they had ever threatened him he would have shot them, too.

Derosa, who had surgery for lung cancer this year, said that she does not know whether she could have physically controlled the animal either. Derosa, who said she weighs 86 pounds, said she also never thought that the officer would shoot Ozzie.

Derosa said that she thought that Ozzie would calm down, as she got the other dogs inside first.

The deputy was not injured. He called animal control, as well as backup from the sheriff's office, after Derosa insisted he call the agency for help with the dog. But Derosa said the deputy and animal control told her it was up to the family to take the dog to the veterinarian.

Derosa said that she called her son, Joe Viviani, to come home and help with Ozzie.

Derosa asked the deputy to put Ozzie out of his misery once she realized the dog was still alive with a bullet in his head. "I'm saying you came on our property and shot our dog," she said. But neither the deputy nor animal services would help her, she said.

She and her son found an emergency vet clinic and took Ozzie there where he was euthanized. They took him home and buried him in the back yard.