Roommates who sued a Maryland county Monday claim police officers illegally entered their apartment without a warrant, detained them at gunpoint without justification and unnecessarily shot their pet dog, which was left paralyzed and ultimately euthanized.

The dog, a boxer mix named Hennessey, did not attack the three officers who entered the apartment before two of them shot the animal with their firearms and the third fired a stun gun at it, according to the federal lawsuit.

The lawsuit seeks at least $16 million in damages over the June 2, 2021 encounter, which started with Prince George’s County police officers responding to a report of a dog bite at an apartment complex where the four plaintiffs lived. What happened next was captured on police body camera video and video from a plaintiff’s cellphone.

  • CmdrShepard@lemmy.one
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    11 months ago

    Also don’t open the door for police. I’ve seen numerous encounters where they’ll block the door and refuse to let you close it. Once you try to close it or a gentle breeze comes by an pushes the door into their foot, they’ll violently throw you to the ground, taze you, and then charge you with assaulting a police officer.