Dog Killing by Ex-Officer Probed

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will investigate the fatal shooting of a Chatsworth mutt named Rosy by a retired Los Angeles police officer who met up with the dog while jogging on a hillside trail, a sheriff’s official said Friday.

Sheriff’s Lt. Jim Glazar said deputies will investigate the incident as a possible cruelty-to-animals case and determine whether the former officer, identified as Warren M. Eggar, has a valid permit to carry a concealed weapon.

The Malibu sheriff’s station patrols the unincorporated area of Chatsworth north of the Simi Valley Freeway where the Tuesday evening shooting took place.

“We are going to confirm his ability to have the weapon and make sure it is still reasonable in our eyes, and we are definitely going to look at the cruelty-to-animals aspect,” Glazar said.

The dog’s owner, a film and video editor who lives nearby, says Eggar shot Rosy with a pistol he pulled from his fanny pack, claiming that he feared for his life.

The large, black dog was part Doberman pinscher, part Labrador retriever and friendly, said owner Jack Reifert.

Eggar, who retired Aug. 1 from the Police Department’s controversial Special Investigations Section, refused to comment on Friday.

The SIS is a secretive unit that conducts surveillance of suspects who are believed to be involved in a series of crimes.

“The thing that annoys me so much was why would a jogger need to be carrying a gun unless he intends to kill something?” Reifert said.

Reifert was riding his mountain bike and his wife, Pam, was on horseback when their two dogs ran ahead, out of view, and a shot rang out.

“We went around the corner and this jogger who was carrying a pistol in his fanny pack had shot my dog,” Reifert said.

“The first words out of this guy’s mouth were, No. 1, ‘I’m a police officer,’ and No. 2, ‘I feared for my life,’ ” Reifert said, adding that Eggar also had a badge in his fanny pack.

“I said, ‘Why in the hell didn’t you fire a warning shot or something?’ and he said, ‘That’s police policy,’ ” Reifert said.

A Police Department spokesman said retired officers are issued special badges, indicating the holder is a former police officer. He declined further comment.

Eggar, 49, was among nine members of an SIS squad that killed three robbers and wounded a fourth last year in a shootout outside a McDonald’s restaurant in Sunland.

He is named as a defendant in a pending lawsuit filed by the robbers’ families against the city and Police Department.