Deputy shoots and kills dog

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- All seem to agree that a South Florida deputy used necessary deadly force when he shot and killed a pitbull after it became aggressive towards a crowd of people.

At around 7 p.m., Thursday, a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy, who was in the area of Northwest 23rd Avenue and 15th Court responding to an unrelated call, was forced to fire at a pitbull. "Thankfully, the deputy was right there in the area because we could have been dealing with a much worse situation," said BSO spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright. "We could have been dealing with the loss of human life."

Witnesses said the pitbull jumped over a fence, which was about four feet high and mauled another dog, which was being walked on a leash. The pitbull then turned its attention to a crowd, which included a 3-year-old boy. "The police had to shoot him because my grandbaby couldn't get up on top of the car," said the grandmother of the little boy who was in harm's way. "He probably would have bit my grandbaby."

After repeated attempts with a Taser to get the pitbull off the other dog, the deputy fired two shots and killed the dog in fear of the 3-year-old boy's life. "He did the right thing. I'm sorry that the dog got shot, but he had to do the right thing," said another witness.

The dog that was killed was being looked after by a neighbor, who is a friend of the owner.

"He's a good dog, he don't bother nobody," said Rita Wiggins. "The young man that had the dog by the leash, he was kicking my dog, so that's like, kind of provoke the dog to keep on charging. No, I don't blame them, they did what they had to do."

BSO said the owner of the deceased dog will receive a citation for $500. "It took us a little minute to get the dog off us," said Cedric Jones, the dog owner. "The dog is aggressive. Yeah, he did the right thing in the end."

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