Officer charged in dog death wants charges dropped

BALTIMORE (AP) — Attorneys for a Baltimore police officer accused of cutting a dog’s throat are asking a judge to dismiss the animal cruelty charge against him.

Officer Jeffrey Bolger had tried for an hour to restrain the dog, a Shar Pei named Nala, after she ran away from her owner and reportedly bit a pregnant woman outside of a bar in Baltimore, Bolger’s attorneys wrote in a motion to dismiss filed Thursday. The lawyers argue that because the dog attacked a person and the officer was unable to subdue the animal, Bolger was authorized to “euthanize” her.