Hawthorne dog shooting: Have some sympathy for the police officer too

It’s tough to watch the video that has circulated so widely of a Hawthorne police officer shooting a dog last week. I own a couple dogs -- a very responsible yellow Lab named Honeybee and big, gentle retriever named Woody -- and the thought of violence coming to either of them is stomach-churning.

Many of our readers have responded similarly, calling the shooting “despicable” and a dangerous abuse of power, among other things. Others are even angrier, and Hawthorne police report that their officers are receiving threats.

I don’t know the full story of what led up to the shooting (nor, of course, do most of those responding angrily or making threats). Officers say that Leon Rosby, the dog’s owner, was blaring music in his car and standing too close to a crime scene as the officers attempted to resolve a dangerous situation.

They say they asked him to back up and turn the music down. He allegedly balked, though he eventually put his dog in the car -- leaving the windows open -- and was arrested. The dog saw his owner under stress, jumped from the open window and lunged at an officer, who shot him.

That’s not the way anyone wanted this situation to end, and it may be that officers were heavy-handed in their dealings with Rosby, who’s clashed with Hawthorne police before.

But it’s also important to remember that dogs pose real threats to police officers. Officers often find themselves in situations in which they are colliding with the instincts of dogs. They serve warrants, invading dogs’ sense of territory, and they make arrests, threatening dogs’ loyalty to their owners. Dogs are sensitive to stress, and police often appear in moments of anxiety. That was certainly the case when Rosby’s Rottweiler, Max, did exactly what you’d expect a dog to do when he sees his owner in distress.

Whatever led to that moment, though, you have to have some sympathy for the officer. He was already distracted by a crime scene, trying to put a man in handcuffs, and he then suddenly was confronted by an 80-pound Rottweiler barreling toward him.

That officer can’t be expected to allow himself to be mauled. He too has a right to be protected from harm. So he shot. And Max died.

I covered the LAPD for five years back in the 1990s, when crime was soaring in Los Angeles and big, strong dogs -- mainly pit bulls -- were in vogue. Sadly, a lot of dogs were shot in those years.

I knew officers who vigorously defended shooting suspects, but I never met an officer who felt good about shooting a dog. It’s grisly and sad -- and yet, sometimes necessary.

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