Police in Filer, Idaho are being criticized for shooting and killing a dog during a birthday party celebration for the owner’s nine-year-old son.
Neighbors complained that Rick Clubb’s dogs were unleashed and on the loose, and police were called to the scene. When officer Tarek Hassani arrived at the Clubb home, he found two of the dogs on the front lawn. They barked at him as he approached the property. He kicked at the dogs, drew his gun and shot one of them dead.
Clubb was enraged when he learned what had happened. Hassani claims the dog had tried to bite him and put his safety in danger — and it was Clubb’s fault for not leashing them. Clubb countered that his dog never would have hurt the officer.
“I just shot your dog because it tried to bit me,” said Hassani to Clubb, in a state of agitation. “I come here for a fucking call, and it tried to bite me.”
Clubb disputed this. “No it didn’t, it don’t bite nobody,” he said in response.
“I don’t care … put your hand in my face again and you are going to go to jail.”
A dashboard camera captured the incident on video. It’s not clear that the dog actually tried to bite Hassani, nor is it clear that the dogs were actually obstructing Hassani’s path to the house, as he claimed.
The graphic video footage can be seen here.
During the course of Hassani’s conversation with Clubb, the officer reveals that he was once bitten by a dog and sent to the emergency room.
“I’m not going to get bit again,” he said. “I don’t know your dog. It might be the dog that tears my leg out.”
Hassani apologized for shooting the dog, but claimed he had no choice.
Clubb was ticketed for owning unleashed dogs. He has vowed to sue to the police department.
“I’m going to sue them, I’m going to sue the City of Filer and the police chief and officer,” said said in a statement to KMVT. “Maybe I deserve a ticket, but I don’t deserve a dead dog.”
Filer Police Chief Tim Reeves agreed with the actions taken by Hassani.
“My decision was that he did a good job and he was totally justified in putting the dog down,” said Reeves in a statement.
