Great dane shot dead

[Guest roo]

With permission to cross post
I am copying an article from the Joliet Hearald Newspaper. The Dane
that was killed in Braidwood, which is only 4 miles from me was a
sweet and loving dog. I knew him personally. If any of you have any
time please write a note to the mayor of this town and tell him that
his police force is out of control or anything else you would like to
say. The address is Mayor Saltzman and Police Chief Andreina
Braidwood city hall, 141 W. Main St. Braidwood, IL 60408. It is time
we let these people know that the wanton killing of pets will not be
tolerated.

Pat



Dog shot to death: Braidwood man, police in dispute



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By Charles B. Pelkie
STAFF WRITER



BRAIDWOOD - Dominic Quigley alleges that Braidwood police had no
good reason to shoot and kill his gentle Great Dane after cornering
the show dog in a neighbor's back yard last week.

But the city's police chief insisted that his officer exercised
good judgment in shooting down a 160-pound dog that was charging a
local code enforcement officer.

Quigley, of 146 S. Lincoln, said his 15-month-old dog, Little Boy,
was tied up in his back yard and broke the lead around 1 p.m. Nov. 6.
It was the first time that his dog, a gentle giant that he and his
wife have taken to nursing homes as therapy for senior citizens,
escaped unsupervised into the neighborhood.

The panicked owner went searching for Little Boy to no avail. He
would learn later from the police department that a Braidwood officer
had shot and killed his dog after Little Boy was cornered in a back
yard four doors from his house.

"They cornered the dog, and the dog tried to get away, and they
shot him," he said.

Quigley said the good-natured Little Boy, a $1,500 to $2,000 show
dog who went to regular training sessions, never displayed any
aggressive behavior. He said he told Police Chief Robert Andreina
that there is no way his dog would have attacked anyone.

"Our family is devastated by this," he said. "I don't want this to
happen to another dog. What they did was totally uncalled for."

Andreina said he and his officers were responding to a report of a
large dog wandering the neighborhood. The officers spotted the Great
Dane, but had trouble keeping up with the large dog when it ran away.

At one point, they lost track of the dog, he said. At some point
during the search, an officer talked with a woman who informed him
that she believed the dog had been abandoned in the neighborhood by a
man driving a delivery truck.

"In our mind at this point, we're chasing a dumped dog," the chief
said.

Fearing danger, police contacted a nearby school and told officials
to keep students indoors, Andreina said. A short time later, he said
he learned that one of his officers and the code enforcement official
had backed the dog into a yard that was fenced on three sides.

Andreina conceded that the dog did not appear to be aggressive or
mean when it was first spotted wandering the streets. But once the
Great Dane was cornered, it began to growl, he said.

The chief said he was rushing toward the yard just as the code
enforcement officer was trying to sneak up behind the dog to place a
cable around its neck. At that point, the Great Dane charged the
man, "teeth gnashing, growling and the hair on the back of his neck
standing up," Andreina said.

The chief said he believes that Little Boy never showed signs of
aggression in the past.

"But the dog was being chased by four people it didn't know in an
area it wasn't familiar with," he said. "The dog decided not to flee,
it decided to fight. I'm sorry. But I have to place a human life on a
higher priority than a dog's life."

Officer Doug Savarino, a former animal control officer for Will
County, killed the dog with one shot to the chest from a rifle.
Andreina insisted that there was no time to use a tranquilizer dart.

Quigley takes issue with the police version of events. He said his
family owns the only Great Danes in Braidwood and that the chief,
whom he has known for years, was aware of this.

His attorney, Doug Ziech, filed a lawsuit alleging that Savarino
shot Little Boy wantonly and without justification. The complaint
seeks damages in excess of $50,000. Ziech said the breeding dog could
have been used as a stud up to 40 times in its life. The owners would
have received up to $1,500 each time the dog mated, he said.

"It was a good dog," Ziech said. "The worst thing that this dog was
going to do to you was get up on your shoulders and lick you to
death."

Andreina said he did not recall that Quigley owned Great Danes
until after Little Boy had been shot. He also noted that police
called dispatchers during the search to check if a Great Dane had
been registered as required under village code. Little Boy was not
registered with the village.

He said Little Boy might be alive today if Quigley had either
registered his dog or called police immediately after it went
missing. "If we'd have thought for one second that it belonged to
him, we would've gone to him," Andreina said.

Ironically, as the chief was describing the events surrounding
Little Boy's death on Friday, a dispatcher called in a report of
another loose dog. This time, the officer put a piece of bologna
behind a fence and shut the gate behind it when it entered the yard.

Reporter Charles B. Pelkie can be reached at (815) 729-6039 or via e-
mail at [email][email protected][/email].

[Guest roo]

UPDATE

I have permission to cross post this. I thought it would be interesting to
hear the other side of the story not just the news article.


I spoke with the owners of "Baby Boy" last night, Rita has asked that anyone
in the Dane community that feels compelled to voice their opinions to please
address them to the

Braidwood Police Department
141 W. Main
Braidwood, IL 60408

This is what we know as of now -

Last Thursday, Rita's husband let Baby boy and there other dog out to potty.
Baby boy was attached to his outside leash. The husband fell asleep on the
couch.
When he awoke 45 minutes later, the dachshund was still there but Baby boy
had
broke the tie and escaped the yard. Not seeing his dog, Dominick immediately
called the police.
Police dispatch asked him if it was a Great Dane, when he said yes they told
him "its dead we shot him" . Their house backs up to a school. There are 2
fences approx. 300ft long between their yard and the school. The police
Chief
said the dog was goofy and frolicking about the neighborhood. Four Braidwood
officers cornered him into a fence situation with fence on three sides. They
say
the dog lunged at them - so ...from approx 400 feet away pointing TOWARDS an
elementary school with children in the building, the officer, A FORMER WILL
COUNTY ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER retrieved his RIFLE from the trunk and shot
baby
boy in THE BACK OF THE HEAD. (how does one lunge yet get shot in the back of
the head)

This story has the whole community enraged. Three local papers as well as a
Chicago paper have picked up the story, WJOL radio station is non-stop talk
about this issue of killing a pet as well as police fire towards an occupied
school.

Rita called Channel 7 news in Chicago, WLS-tv they said they would come out
for the story. On the day they were to come, Rita ran into town for an
errand,
saw the WLS-tv truck at the police dept. She went home to wait for them to
come to her house. They never came. When she called to ask what happened.
They said they got called back to the station. They have not contacted her
since. (What was said by the police to have the news drop the story?)

A witness is talking to Rita's lawyer and said that "one officer had a pole
with noose, was leaning on it, not attempting to use it at all. Another
officer
just quickly grabbed his rifle and shot him."

When one reporter asked why the dog was not tranquilized, the FORMER WILL
COUNTY ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER replied that an animal that size would take a
minimum of 18cc from the dart gun. Each dart only holding 3cc, would take 6
shots
and each shot requires the officer to pump the gun 10 times. If one of the
darts missed, a child might come upon the dart.

When the officers took Baby boy to the local vet, the vet immediately
recognized him and said "this is Quigley's dog. He's not vicious". The
police then
took baby boys body and put him in the Quigleys back yard.- (imagine coming
home to this)

Rita was still at work and her husband was trying to find baby boys body and
get Rita a ride home from work - she was too shook up to drive herself.

Rita and her husband know the Police chief well, they both have lived their
whole lives in this small town. I heard the Police Chief being interviewed
this
morning on WJOL Radio. He told the interviewer that he is friends with
Dominic Quigley and that they get together occasionally, he later said that
many
animals get loose in town and we know the people and their pets so we have
even
stapled citations to dogs collars and set them back in their own yards. -
laughing at this point of the interview. Rita has had Great Danes in this
small
community since 1980. Do you mean to tell me with him "occasionally getting
together" with her husband this police chief as well as others in this small
community did not know about Quigley's Danes"? Rita said she is the only one
that
has danes in her town.

When hearing about all the media calls Rita made, the Chief told her she
shouldn't be starting all this fuss. - small town police mentality. - her
lawyer
advised her to go full speed ahead. They are going to try to have the
officer
fired and monetary loss. Rita does not want $$$. - lawyers idea. (guess
someone's gotta pay the bill)


How did this officer ever get his Animal Control title?

Why did WLS-tv drop the story after talking with the Braidwood Police Dept.?

one more thing - One of the newspapers that is running this story had a
feature article on an owner and her therapy dog being trained and used for
Alzheimer's patients .The story ran 2 weeks ago. Beautiful picture and nicely
done
story.

Guess who the therapy dog was?? Baby Boy.

Vent and Voice

Braidwood Police Department
141 w. Main
Braidwood, IL 60408

[dogsgalore]

That is so sick and stupid! I feel for the owners of the dog :cry:
This reminds me of a story in the paper a few years ago. I'll try to remember most of it.
Some police officers in a car seen two Great Pyrenees dogs, one a pup, in a field chewing on the carcass of a dead sheep. They assumed the dogs had killed the sheep and shot them both on the spot! :evil: Come to find out the dogs, both very friendly pets, belonged to a family nearby. The sheep was dead before the dogs found it, I think it had been dumped there or something. The family was very upset and heartbroken. (They had children, too!) It was in the paper for a few days. I think the officer ended up being charged. Do people have no common sense?! :evil:

[marion]

The same old story, :x will they never learn from their mistakes. :evil: