Panel Clears Officer in Shooting of Dog

A Burbank police board has ruled that an officer acted appropriately when he shot a charging dog while responding to a domestic-violence report, a spokesman said Thursday.

Anthony Valento, a five-year Police Department veteran, fired two shots at a 9-year-old black Labrador retriever in the July 13 incident, Sgt. Bill Taylor said.

Valento had intended to use pepper spray, but “quickly realized it could not be deployed effectively in time,” the board concluded. Instead, he fired his pistol when the dog was two feet away.

The officer took the action “to protect himself from serious injury,” Taylor said.