BUCYRUS — A vicious dog complaint led to the shooting of a Bucyrus resident’s dog on Wednesday afternoon.
According to Bucyrus Police Capt. Joe Greathouse, a Columbus man reported being chased and attacked by a dog in the 200 block of North Walnut Street as he was walking to the Crawford County Courthouse.
The man told officers he was walking to the courthouse for a hearing for a speeding ticket.
“He said the dog chased him and he fell to the ground,” Greathouse said. “He said the dog bit him in the foot, but he had a shoe on so there was no dog bite.”
In a video from the body camera of Capt. Neil Assenheimer, the man is seen saying the dog did not bite him, but he thought the dog was going after his leg and that is when he turned to run. The responding officer is heard in Assenheimer’s video saying his video did not record. The officer later reported he did hit the button to start recording.
Greathouse said when an officer went to the residence to inform the owner of the complaint, the dog was outside and ran aggressively toward the officer, causing him to draw his pistol, shooting the dog in the mouth area.
Assenheimer, who also serves as a K9 handler for BPD, said he arrived at the scene and rolled his window down to ask the original responding officer if he needed assistance, when Assenheimer saw the dog run toward the officer and make jumping motions.
He said the dog came toward the officer in a way that he would call aggressive.
Assenheimer said he was exiting his cruiser when the shooting occurred, and he did not see the firearm discharge.
The dog’s owner, Shawn Rahm, said she was outside with her grandson, who turned five years old on Wednesday, and was calling for the dog and telling the officer not to shoot.
“I did not want to run to the dog with an officer there with his gun out, but I was yelling to him to let me get her,” Rahm said. “He shot her right in front of us.”
The property owner, who possessed a home security video of the incident, said the officer was in the tree lawn across the sidewalk when the dog ran from the car port in the driveway off the property and onto the sidewalk toward the officer.
The property owner declined to release the video to Crawford County Now.
Assenheimer is heard on his body camera video saying evidence the dog left the property was found based on where blood was found after the shooting.
Rahm said her dog was a pit bull mix and referenced her small size. Crawford County Dog Warden Angela Chandler said the dog was listed as a boxer mix, and she said it looked like the dog had some traits of a Staffordshire Bull Terrier.
“She was little and only came up to my knee,” Rahm said. “I picked her up and took her into the house. She was still alive and bleeding everywhere.”
Rahm said Chandler came to the scene and entered the residence to check the condition of the dog. The dog was then transported to a local veterinarian’s office.
According to Chandler, the dog’s jaw and back teeth were shattered and her mandible was injured. She told BPD officers on scene the bullet did not exit the dog.
“She would have needed an orthopedic veterinarian to operate on her to save her,” Chandler said. “To walk in the door of that type of doctor is thousands of dollars.”
Rahm said her dog, Mia, was alive at that point for about 40 minutes after the shooting.
“I could not allow her to continue suffering,” Rahm said while sobbing on Thursday morning.
She decided to put her dog, Mia, to sleep.
“The vet was wonderful to us and we thank her,” Rahms said.
As a result of the incident, Rahm was issued a citation by Chandler for a dog running at large.
“I may fight it, but I do understand that my dog should have been on a leash or tied up,” Rahm said. “We have a fence around three-quarters of our house but not the whole property.”
Assenheimer is heard in the video saying the existing fence is not adequate for containing a dog.
Rahm, though, said she feels that the situation could have been handled differently.
“I was right there to get her,” Rahm said. “She has never bitten anyone. He did not have to shoot her. And on my grandson’s fifth birthday in front of him is just too much.”
Greathouse said the officer had no choice.
“In this situation, a taser is not effective because you have to be able to hit your target with both prongs. That is hard to do when an animal is coming towards you because all you have to aim at is the head and it may not be wide enough,” Greathouse said.
He said if both prongs do not hit the animal or another target, the taser is worthless and will have no effect.
“The officer did the only thing he could do in that situation,” said Greathouse, who has not identified the officer at this time.
Rahm said there must be a better way for officers to handle a vicious dog complaint.
“This cannot be right. He did not have to shoot her,” Rahm said. “I have had a pizza delivery guy message me (Thursday) morning that he has been to my home several times and was not afraid of Mia even though she ran towards him and barked.”
Rahm said she is focused on helping her grandson cope with the loss of the dog.
“I have had custody of him since he was two months old, so Mia was his dog as much as mine and he saw her get shot,” Rahm said. “He is traumatized, and my focus is on helping him through this. He is now afraid of police officers and I don’t want him to feel that way.”