http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2013/07/01/viral-video-appears-to-show-hawthorne-police-fatally-shoot-dog/

WARNING!!!!!!! DISTURBING VIDEO

Viral Video Appears To Show Hawthorne Police Fatally Shoot Dog

HAWTHORNE (CBSLA.com) — A video posted online apparently shows Hawthorne police officers fatally shooting the dog of a man filming a nearby barricade situation, an attorney said Monday.

The undated video posted June 30 on YouTube shows a man driving a rental car up to an apparent police barricade at 137th and Jefferson and then stopping to use his camera to capture images of the scene.

Attorney Michael Gulden said his client Leon Rosby was watching and taking video of the Hawthorne SWAT team when police claimed Rosby was obstructing officers during the barricade.

Rosby, 52, is seen in video footage walking with Max, his two-year-old Rottweiler, near several patrol cars to capture the scene on his phone.
After an exchange with nearby officers, Rosby is heard saying the words, “civil rights violation” before returning the dog to his vehicle.

As officers begin to proceed toward Rosby, he also begins walking in the direction of the officers and is then taken into custody without any further exchange.

While Rosby is handcuffed, Max is seen escaping from the vehicle through an open rear window and then approaching the officers while barking.
When one officer motions toward the animal, the dog is seen jumping up and toward the officer, at which point four shots were fired, according to Gulden.

“He wasn’t just a dog,” Rosby said. “He’d lick on my face, lick on my hands.”

A second video apparently shows Rosby stopped at the intersection and then driving slowly past the scene prior to parking his vehicle.

Gulden said he plans to file a lawsuit against the Hawthorne Police Department. Rosby has filed six previous complaints against Hawthorne police, including one lawsuit which alleges officers broke his rib, KCAL9′s Cristy Fajardo reported. Rosby said one of the officers named in the suit spotted him at the barricade scene.

“I saw him, and he noticed me,” he said. “He pointed at me.”

In June, the Hawthorne Police Department said it was one of only two departments in the country using a therapy dog on the force.

A statement from the Hawthorne Police Department said “the dog lunged and made aggressive movements toward the officer(s)…Fearing that the attacking Rottweiler would imminently bite the officer(s), one officer fired his duty weapon several times, striking and killing the dog.”

===========================================================

Well.. great to know that the police solves a barking dog by shooting it.. feel really safe.. surely shooting at a dog surrounded by people was the best solution..

This happens every day. I'm surprised this one was covered by the mainstream media, to be honest. Police brutality in the U.S is nothing new, it is a police state after-all -- constructed after the "war on drugs."

Fucking pussy cops. Dog wasn't even that aggressive.  They should have uncuffed the man and let him control his dog back to the car.  There are good cops and there are shitty cops.  These were obviously shitty cops.  At most they should have just tased the dog...  They love tasing everyone else and I don't see why they would use a gun when a taser would drop the dog without probably killing it (considering taser still have chance to kill).

They did nothing wrong. Tragic that the do died but the officers behaved in a reasonable manor.

yeah, saw this earlier. Crazy... I don't really understand why the police went after the guy in the first place. Maybe he did something or said something that wasn't recorded?

Anyway, the dog didn't even look scary. Clearly an overreaction, but not one that is necessary wrong... just stupid...

That's horrible and a total abuse of power.

I hope the lawsuit favors Gulden and the office in question is sanctioned.

War on drugs helped USA become #1 in prison population!  USA! USA! USA!

This is not police brutality. The guy was purposefully trying to be an obstacle to the cops. Had he left when they had enough and put his dog car, nothing would have happened. How he put dog in car and continued to be an ass. Then his dog jumps out and clearly jumps at the officer. They had no choice at that point. Its sad, but its the owners fault.

social media sometimes forces their hand. I saw this on facebook. cops really need to think bwefore shooting. yes they may have been bitten, but I am sure 2 or more cops were there and it shouldn't take more than 2 people to control a dog. Not to mention they shouldn't arrest people for no reasons. Did this guy break any laws? Not sup[rised it happened in CA, we have some shitty police forces out here. They really feel they answer to no one (they kind of dont)

Edit: Wish I didn't actually watch the video. Pretty sad. They dog wasn't being extremly aggressive. Seemed like normal reaction from a dog seeing his owner handleed by other people in that way. It even had a leash on they could of grabbed. Just seems like they could of handled the whole situation better.

Damn, what a low life coward and piece of shit cop.

I am so angry right now. He deserves to rot in jail.