A Cleveland, Mississippi police officer shot a family’s one-and-a-half-year-old yellow labrador while it was still on a leash, because he “felt threatened,” the Clarion-Ledger reports.
Tyler Muzzi, the dog’s owner, became alarmed when he saw a stranger walking around outside his neighbor’s house and driveway. He called the neighbor, who called the police.
Police arrested the man, who by that time had broken into the home.
Then suddenly, Muzzi heard gunshots. He assumed perhaps they had clashed with the man under arrest.
But when he emerged from his home, an officer told him his labrador had been shot.
Muzzi wrapped his injured pet in towels, and the officer who had shot him watched in silence. Police called animal control, and they helped Muzzi rush Miller to the vet. His spine had been broken in two places, and he soon passed away.
From the Clarion-Ledger:
In a Facebook post, Bethany Harris Muzzi wrote, “We thought by having our year and a half old lab puppy in our backyard on a line, he was safe. We are devastated and will find out soon what is going to happen about all of this. Please continue to pray.”
The parents still haven’t told their 5-year-old daughter Emma how her dog died—”We wanted to keep her innocent…We don’t want her to be scared of law enforcement.”
Emma now sleeps with a toy clay labrador statue, a gift from her grandmother.
“(Emma) takes the clay statue to sleep, pets it, brings it food.”
The officer who shot Miller is now on “administrative leave,” while police said they could not comment due to litigation.
A Facebook page, “Justice 4 Miller Muzzi,” has over 8,000 likes.
In recent years, news agencies have documented an alarming number of instances where police shoot dogs for little reason. Last year, a Buffalo news outlet discovered that local officers had shot 92 dogs since 2011.
