AURORA | A woman whose dog was shot and killed by Aurora police after it ran loose in an apartment complex last fall and jumped on the hood of a police cruiser plans to sue the city.
Valeria Rios’ dog, Angelo, was shot by an Aurora police officer Oct. 22 in the parking lot of an apartment complex near East 10th Avenue and Sable Boulevard. Rios’ other dog, Luna, was also running loose that night but was not shot.
Rios pleaded guilty last week to one count of having an aggressive animal, but her lawyer, Juliet Piccone, said the plea deal didn’t specify which dog or who the victim was.
Piccone said this week she plans to file a notice with the city in the coming days informing them that she is preparing a lawsuit, arguing the city violated the state’s Dog Protection Act, which says officers need to do everything they can to avoid shooting pets.
WARNING: Video contains profanity and strong language. The video has been edited by a lawyer for the woman whose dog was shot. At approximately 2:40, an officer’s body cam shows the dog barking at a parked police car. It appears the officer got out of the car and shot the dog at about that time. Other footage shows interaction among police and dispatchers after the shot was fired.
The dogs resemble pit bulls, which are banned in Aurora, but both were registered with city and are not that breed as spelled out by the city’s rules.
Piccone said the law calls for police to “prevent where possible” the shooting of dogs. In this case, she said the officer didn’t do all he could to avoid shooting the dog and instead shot the dog seconds after he got out of his car.
“People love their dogs,” she said. “They don’t want their dog to be blown away for no reason.”
In his report, the officer who shot Angelo said he was in fear. He said the dog was aggressive and had already attacked one woman, and said he worried it would attack another bystander or him.
“I was frightened,” the officer wrote. “I was afraid that this dog could do serious bodily injury to me.”
Police on Thursday said they could not comment on the case because of the threat of pending litigation.
Video from the officer’s body camera shows the dogs barking and running around before the officer shoots. The officer said in his report that one of the dogs also leapt on the hood of his car.
Officers responded to the scene that night on a report that the dogs had attacked a woman walking her Dachshund. Several people called to report the dogs attacking the woman, according to the report, but the woman later said she was not injured.
Piccone said she would like to see more training for officers when they deal with dogs, but also changes to the way animal control responds to cases like this one.
The night Angelo and Luna ran off, animal control was on call but didn’t respond quickly, she said.
“We are a major metropolitan area with tons of animals,” she said. “Why don’t we have at least an officer that’s always available? A dog is not going to only get out 9 to 5.”