NO Accountability - Shoots and fires wildly at something and ends up being his own dog. Cops are obsessed with shooting and fear of the safety protected by the courts and supported by back the blue crowds, smh GRANT PARISH, La. (KALB) - A Grant Parish Sheriff’s Office K9 handler was placed on administrative leave after accidentally shooting and killing his police dog while on patrol in the Kisatchie National Forest, according to Sheriff McCain.
At 2 a.m. on August 13, Corporal Arthur Souza was reportedly patrolling the national forest before stepping out of his police vehicle to monitor a group of wild hogs crossing forest roadways. After monitoring the hogs for several minutes, McCain said Souza “heard an animal that was breathing heavily, and he could see a silhouette of a four-legged creature charging at him, and he thought it was one of the wild hogs that was charging at him.”
In response, Souza drew his pistol, and he shot at the figure, but later identified it as his K9 partner, Axel.
“As you can imagine, he’s absolutely just devastated… he’s going through embarrassment. He’s going through regret.”
Axel was eight years old and had been Souza’s partner for two years. The shooting comes as a first-of-its-kind tragedy for the sheriff’s office, with McCain adding that his office is also both upset and equally embarrassed by the incident.
McCain said Souza was placed on administrative leave and “corrective actions” were being taken following an internal investigation utilizing dash-cam footage, veterinary reports and the first-hand report from Souza.
McCain refused to clarify how long the administrative leave was, and the specifics of the corrective action, clarifying that it is the standard within his office not to release internal personnel information.
In place of the information, McCain commented, saying, “In my opinion, the corrective action is…to correct this from ever happening again. I hope that I’ve learned from the mistakes that I made today, and I don’t repeat them tomorrow or next week or next month. And I think that… and I would hope, as a person, that all of us strive to do that.”
When questioned on whether any court-related charges would be pressed against Souza for the shooting, McCain clarified that the incident is not considered ‘criminal’ as there was no intention of wrongdoing.
“There’s two different types of mistakes that a human can make. We can make a mistake of the head, and we can make a mistake of the heart. There was no intent involved in this case at all. He didn’t intend to shoot his partner, his canine partner. This was a mistake of the head. It was not a mistake of the heart.”
McCain said Souza has taken responsibility for the shooting in stride and has not avoided any punishment or discipline.
“He’s not trying to blame anything else or anybody else or come up with some elaborate story. He was very straightforward. He’s taken responsibility, which I appreciate as an employer, somebody not hiding from responsibilities,” McCain said.