Seminole cop shoots family dog; owner sues
When a Seminole County deputy knocked on the door of his Apopka home during a fight with his wife in July, Tarek Brown answered within about 20 seconds. The gunfire began seconds later.
A second deputy, ChavezDavis, had immediately entered the back yard after arriving at the home, rather than waiting to see if anyone answered his colleague’s knock. On the back patio, Davis saw the family’s dog, Legend, which ran toward him. He pulled his gun and fired at the animal seven times.
Legend later died at the vet, his family said.
The Seminole County Sheriff’ s Office investigated the shooting, determining Davis acted within agency policy and state laws. The review found he had been properly directed to enter the back yard by the deputy at the front door, who said she heard yelling and what sounded like a fight inside the home.
But Brown said he still doesn’t understand why Davis entered his fenced yard so quickly, why the deputy felt threatened by his playful dog, or why SCSO ruled the deputy’s actions justified despite “horrifying” body camera video of the killing.
“We’re so traumatized,” Brown said. “It’s like one of your children getting shot. I was so angry.”
Brown has since filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Davis, the two other deputies who responded to his family’s home July 31, and Sheriff Dennis Lemma, seeking $2 million in compensation for the loss of his pet and trauma to his family.
TheSheriff’s Office has not yet responded to the claim in court. SC SO spokeswoman Kim Can na day said the agency is aware of the lawsuit and it is “being reviewed by our attorneys.” She declined to answer questions from the Orlando Sentinel about the case, because they were “legal in nature.”
‘What happened?’
Deputies responded to Brown’s home about 7:30 p.m. after Brown’s teenage stepdaughter had called 911 because of a fight between him and her mom.
Deputy Ariel Cruz first approached the front door, where she heard yelling inside, directing Davis — backup on the call — to go around to a backdoor, the report said. She knocked on the front door, identifying herself as lawenforcement, the report said.
“The yelling heard from within the residence created the exigent circumstances which allowedDavis to lawfully make entry into the enclosed backyard of the property,” the report said. Florida lawallows police officers to enter private property without a warrant or permission when “exigent circumstances” arise, typically defined as immediate threats to safety.
After Brown opened the front door, gunfire erupted in the backyard.
“Five seconds after the door was opened, seven shots are heard coming from Davis’ side of the house, followed by the sounds of a dog snarling,” according to SCSO’s review of Cruz’s body camera footage.
“As I’m talking to them, I just hear shots,” Brown recalled. “... I’m like, ‘Damn, did I just get shot? What happened?’”
Deputies initially told Brown his dog hadn’t been shot because “the canine had retreated and did not display any clear and obviously injury,” the report said. Deputies tried to continue talking to Brownabout the fight with his wife, which left Brown’s shirt ripped and scratch marks on his chest.
Once in the back yard, Brown found Legend— a medium-sized rescue pit-bull mix — on the ground bleeding. He said he scooped up the dog.
“I said, ‘Yo, did you just shoot my dog?’” Brown said. “Why would they shoot my dog? ... [Davis] casually justwalked off.”
According to the report, Davis walked back to his vehicle after the shooting “to de-escalate the situation.” Deputies helped the family find a vet and Brown and his wife drove the dog there, but itwas too late.
A call for help
Davis’ body camera footage, which did not record audio because itwas turned off during the call, shows the dog had started running toward him when he pulled out his gun. It’s not immediately clear when Davis fired the shots because there’s no sound, but the dog makes a circle away from Davis, then back toward him, then away again, beforeDavis lowers his gun.
The dog doesn’t appear to touchDavis.
Davis described the shooting in a supplemental report, saying “the fence had no posted signs advising there was a dog” and describing Legend as a “stocky pit bull.”
He said the dog approached “in an aggressive manner ... barking and growling at me.”
He said he fired about six rounds at the dog, and then it “turned back and charged atmea second time,” so he fired again, that time hitting Legend in what he thought was the shoulder. It’s unclear if he told fellow deputies before returning to his patrol car that he believed he’d wounded the animal.
Brown said Legend was not a violent dog.
“He’s a jumper, he’s a playful dog,” Brown said.
The SCSO review concluded “Davis’ actionswere appropriate, and in compliance with the requirements to use lethal force,” the report said.
“Due to the short distance and the canine’s pace, it took approximately one totwo seconds for the canine to close the gap between it and Davis,” the SCSO review of his body camera footage said. “... It is clear Davis only fired his firearm when the canine was coming toward him. Once the canine slowed and disengaged from Davis, Davis provided it room to retreat.”
When Brown and his wife returned fromthe vet more than an hour later, he said deputies were still there — this time waiting for permission to go in the back yard to collect evidence on the shooting.
“Why y’allwaiting formy permission now?” Brown said.
Deputies also arrested Brown’s wife when the couple returned from the vet on misdemeanor of domestic violence battery after the couple told deputies she had pushed him and grabbed his shirt when he tried to leave the house during their argument, according to her arrest report. Brown said he put his hands on her shoulders to get her away from him.
The case against her was dropped by the SeminoleBrevard State Attorney’s Office a week later, court records show.
Brown’s lawsuit against the Sheriff’s Office seeks compensation for distress the dog’s death caused his family, for therapy for his wife’s daughter, and for the loss of money they could have made frombreeding Legend.
Brown said he worries most about his stepdaughter, whose dog was killed and mother went to jail after she called 911 seeking help for her family.
“It still bothers me,” Brown said. “My stepdaughter was doing what she thought was the right thing.”