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Boise Police Office Shoots Dog He Says Threatened Him

Posted on: Monday, 19 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By The Idaho Statesman, Boise

Jun. 19--A Boise police officer shot a pit bull in the head Sunday night at Clark and Columbus streets in the Depot Bench area.

Officer Ryan Buzzini said he was responding to a complaint about the dog running loose and biting a woman about 8:45 p.m. He said the animal lunged at him.

The dog jumped a 4-foot fence, ran across the street and bit a woman in the thigh, Buzzini said. The woman said the attack was unprovoked and she had to run away and hide from the dog, he said, adding that the dog was reportedly aggressive to other neighbors.

"I attempted for several minutes unsuccessfully to get the dog into my back seat, and it wouldn't get in the back seat and then ... the dog became more aggressive, got within inches of me," Buzzini said. "I was backed in a corner and I couldn't run, and the dog was acting extremely viscious, and thats when I (shot the dog.)

"There was no other option except lethal force," he said.

The people who owned the dog returned home and took the dog to a vet, where it was expected to be euthanized, Buzzini said.

"It's not something that cops look forward to," Buzzini said. "I'm very upset about it.

"Even though it was a vicious dog to me, you're still taking away somebody's family pet. All the more reason to make sure it's an absolutely positively secure enclosure."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Idaho Statesman, Boise

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Idaho Statesman, Boise

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