Deputy Shoots Dog, Family Questions Why
9/28/07

(WCCO) A Garrison family is wondering why a Sheriff's Deputy had to shoot and kill their dog in front of a toddler.

The Stiernagel's had a silver Camry parked in the driveway. It matched the description of a robber's getaway car.

Jennifer was alone with her two-year old son, Derek. As she talked to an investigator in the front yard, she noticed a deputy nearby approaching her two dogs. She said Duke, the Basset Hound, was barking, Eddie, the Terrier Lab, was lying in the grass growling.

"The dog was down, he didn't try jumping at him," said Stiernagel, "he didn't do anything, as soon as I turned around, he shot him right in the head."

Derek watched from the front deck 20 feet away.

"I ran into the house and grabbed him," said Derek's mother. "I put him in the house and he wouldn't leave me and he was holding onto me and he was crying."

Sergeant Chad Paulson of The Crow Wing Sheriff's Department says the deputy had his weapon drawn because the bank robber may have been on the premises. He also said the deputy "shot the dog because it approached him growling, baring it's teeth, with the hair on it's neck standing up."

Stiernagel says the deputies could have handled the situation without causing any harm.