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wcco.com
Family Outraged After Deputy Shoots, Kills Dog
John Reger
Reporting
(WCCO) A Garrison family is wondering why a Sheriff's Deputy had to shoot and kill their dog in front of a toddler. It happened during a bank robbery investigation at a rural home a few miles south of Garrison, near the shore of Lake Mille Lacs.
It started about 9 a.m. on Thursday after an armed robber took about $2,800 from the First National Bank of Deerwood in Garrison. An hour and a half later, Sheriff's deputies showed up at Jennifer Stiernagel's rural home a few miles away. The Stiernagel's had a silver Camry parked in the driveway. It matched the description of the robber's getaway car.
Jennifer was alone with her two-year old son, Derek. As she talked to an investigator in the front yard, she noticed a deputy nearby approaching her two dogs. She said Duke, the Basset Hound, was barking, Eddie, the Terrier Lab, was lying in the grass growling.
"The dog was down, he didn't try jumping at him," said Stiernagel, "he didn't do anything, as soon as I turned around, he shot him right in the head."
Derek watched from the front deck 20 feet away.
"I ran into the house and grabbed him," said Derek's mother. "I put him in the house and he wouldn't leave me and he was holding onto me and he was crying."
Sergeant Chad Paulson of The Crow Wing Sheriff's Department says the deputy had his weapon drawn because the bank robber may have been on the premises. He also said the deputy "shot the dog because it approached him growling, baring it's teeth, with the hair on it's neck standing up."
Stiernagel says the deputies could have handled the situation without causing any harm.
"They could have said 'hey, you need to get your dog in the house, I feel threatened by the dog.' They could have maced the dog, they could have tasered the dog. They could have done a number of things. They could have shot his paw, shot beside the dog, they didn't have to kill the dog," she said.
The Stiernagel's are not connected to the bank robbery. Investigators are looking for a 6 foot man weighing 225 pounds and dark goatee. He was seen wearing a Twins cap and a blue jacket and drove a silver Camry. |
