Cop Shoots Dog on Friday, Gets Fired on Monday, No Appeal Available

On Friday, an unidentified police officer
in Hometown, a suburb of Chicago, shot and killed a 14-month-old
family dog in front of the dog’s owner and the owner’s 6-year-old
daughter.
ABC 7 has the story:

[Owner Nicole] Echlin says [her dog] Apollo had run out of the
front door. Hometown police had been alerted, and encountered the
dog as he returned to the front yard. Echlin says she tried coaxing
Apollo back in the house, but he turned and bared his teeth at one
of the officers. According to police, that’s when the officer
withdrew his weapon and fired one shot, striking the dog.

Echlin says she questioned the use of deadly force- especially
in front of her daughter- but she says the officer showed no
remorse.

“He just said it had to be done. He walked up to me, told me
that and walked away,” said Echlin.

Killing a dog for doing what dogs do most certainly didn’t have
to be done. Firing Echin did, and Hometown’s police chief, Charles
Forsyth, did just that on Monday, calling the incident and
aftermath an “emotional rollercoaster” for the family, the
community, and the police department. A Justice for Apollo Facebook
page garnered more than 10,000 likes since being created on
Friday.

ABC7 identified the police officer only as a 15-year-veteran of
the force. Forsyth told me this morning he would not be releasing
the name of the fired officer but also said there is no built-in
arbitration or appeals process for the now ex-cop to turn to. He
suggested the officer, like any employee fired by his employer,
could launch a lawsuit if he wanted, but confirmed that the officer
was no longer with the department and would not be drawing a
pension.