Body cam shows Sacramento officer shooting dog after owner’s arrest

Body cam video released Saturday by Sacramento police shows a shooting this month that injured a security guard, a dog and a man suspected of being drunk in public and creating a disturbance.

The situation began about 6:45 p.m. Dec. 18 when a security guard working in a shopping center in the 1800 block of 19th Street flagged down an officer to report that a man was causing a disturbance and refusing to leave the area.

The first of four videos released by the department shows an officer approaching the man, who appears to be homeless, with his dog tied to a shopping cart, outside a Panda Express. The officer directs the man, who he alleges has alcohol on his breath, to leave the shopping center, but the man refuses, the video shows.

After a few minutes, the officer tells him he believes the man is not able to care for himself and starts to take him into custody. In the video, the man denies drinking and continues arguing with the officer.

“Is your dog going to become aggressive?” the officer asks, explaining that he does not want to shoot the dog. The man, whom authorities have not identified, told him the dog wouldn’t be a problem. But as the officer attempts to detain the man, the dog begins barking and growling.

The man tries to control the dog, asking it to sit down, but is not successful.

During the scuffle, the dog bit the arresting officer on the arm, police say. A second officer, who arrived at the scene minutes later, shot the dog after the animal broke free from its leash and ran toward him. The dog retreated after the round was fired and the man complained the officer shot him in the eye, the video shows.

Another video released by authorities shows the security guard who initially sought help from police with a wound to his leg. Police say the dog, the man and the security guard suffered minor injuries from bullet fragments of the round that was fired.

A shopper at a nearby Safeway store told the Sacramento Bee the dog ran into the store covered in blood after the shooting.

“Very scared, shaking like a leaf, she just ran to the back of the store and hid underneath my legs,” Jandy Jorgensen told the newspaper on the day of the shooting. “She wasn’t aggressive. She was real sweet.”

The dog eventually was captured and taken by Animal Control for treatment.