What police describe as a fight
between three dogs left one woman bitten and one dog shot at Staten Island’s newly
opened Schmul Park over the weekend.
Police officers say they fired
shots after one of the dogs “attacked” her owner, but members of the owner’s
family say she was bitten while attempting to break up a fight, and that the
dog who was shot – her pit bull, named
Baby Girl — wasn’t even involved in it.
Witnesses said they heard three
to five shots, and WABC reported that police officers shot at all three dogs to
prevent the situation from escalating.
But they hit only one, Baby
Girl, according to Gothamist,
A brother of the dog’s owner
said in a Facebook post that the dog was
shot after the incident was already under control, and that Baby Girl wasn’t involved in the incident:
“The bullet entrance and exit
wounds show the dog was running away, NOT [TOWARD] the cop like that coward
officer claims. The fight was already under control, yet hero cop of the day
felt it necessary to pull out her gun and shoot. THIS DOG WASN'T EVEN THE ONE
THAT WAS FIGHTING.”
The owner’s brother also claims
police left Baby Girl unattended in the back of a truck after she was shot, and
told the family they couldn’t find her.
Police say three dogs were
involved in the incident, and that at least two of them were fighting. When
Baby Girl’s owner tried to break up the fight she was bitten on the hand.
“Responding officers tried to
help her, and in the attempt to get the dog off her, shots were fired,” a
police spokesman said.
The owner was treated for hand
injuries at Richmond University Medical Center.
S.N.A.R.R Animal Rescue Northeast,
the group that rescued Baby Girl before she was adopted, supported the
brother’s account, saying Baby Girl was running away from the two other
fighting dogs when she was shot in the stomach.
A post by the rescue
group’s founder, Robin Menard, indicates
all three dogs belonged to the same family.
“Baby Girl was NOT involved (it
was two other family dogs) and was running AWAY from the fight when cops fired
3 rounds. Baby Girl was shot in the stomach. She is now fighting for her life
and her adopters are paying for a 6000 surgery. They are doing whatever they
can. Baby Girl has never had an issue with people or other dogs. She is best
friends with a bunny rabbit… Yes. A bunny!