The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a police officer’s decision to shoot and kill a dog that was blocking traffic was “objectively reasonable.”
Morgan Hansen’s German shepherd, named Conan, got loose on a Sunday morning and ran down a Missouri highway. The dog blocked traffic where the speed limit was 65 miles per hour, as the midwestern appeals court noted in its opinion. Missouri Highway Patrol trooper Thomas Black tried unsuccessfully to wrangle the dog by “yelling, shouting” and “running” toward the animal.
After the trooper saw vehicles swerving out of the way and “hundreds” of vehicles backed up, Black shot the dog from approximately 50 to 70 feet away. The wounded dog began dragging itself down the middle of the road, so the trooper shot the dog again. The dog then made its way to a grassy median, where the Missouri trooper decided to shoot the animal twice more to “humanely kill the dog,” according to the federal appeals court’s opinion.
Hansen argued the shooting amounted to an unconstitutional seizure in violation of her Fourth Amendment rights, but the court said Hansen’s claim “over-simplifies” the issue.
“Trooper Black unquestionably had the authority, indeed a public duty, to seize a large, unleashed dog running unrestrained down a busy high-speed interstate highway, causing vehicles to swerve, change lanes, and seek safety on the shoulder,” wrote Judge James B. Loken for the 8th Circuit. “Thus, it is not the seizure that is in question, it is the degree of force Black employed to accomplish a necessary seizure.”
Loken’s opinion noted that, “A dog owner’s protected property interest wanes if her pet escapes.”
“An officer’s use of deadly force is always tragic, but the actions of Trooper Black were objectively reasonable under the circumstances, and he is therefore entitled to qualified immunity,” Loken wrote.
Qualified immunity refers to the legal protection from civil liability provided to public officials who do not violate an individual’s “clearly established” constitutional or statutory rights.
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling on Monday is consistent with another recent federal appeals court ruling from the 6th Circuit, which decided late last year that officers could justifiably shoot a dog that refused to be quiet or sit still.
