An Ansonia police officer shot and killed a deaf pit bull named Ice at a Judson Place home on March 3.
Police said the shooting was justified — that the dog was “acting aggressively” and had charged at officers.
But the dog’s owner details a different story.
“He showed no aggression towards the officer and was shot in our own yard,” Racquel Trapp wrote on the website for Angel Capone Pit Bull Rescue, which she runs out of Ansonia. “He was standing still and wagging his tail the entire time.”
Now Trapp has taken to Facebook to try to get justice for her dead dog.
Trapp created a Facebook page called “Justice For Ice,” and supporters have started planning a march — 141 people have indicated they will take part — in Ansonia to highlight the incident. Click here to visit the “Justice For Ice” Facebook page.
On her personal Facebook page, Trapp said she did not want to go to the media.
“I am sick over this and do not want anything going to media,” Trapp wrote. “I have video evidence and my lawyer will decide where to go from here.”
In an interview Wednesday evening, Trapp said she did not plan to sue the department — but hoped to help them get training to better understand how pit bulls act.
“I just don’t want this happening to anyone else’s dog,” Trapp said. “It was just really horrible.”
‘Mistaken Identity’
Ansonia police were called to Judson Place the night of March 3 after a man was bitten by a pit bull, and neighbors called police to report roaming dogs.
“An area resident stated there was a pit bull roaming, that had already attacked somebody,” Lt. Andrew Cota said Tuesday.
However, the dog that was killed was not the same dog that bit a man, police said.
“Apparently the dog that did bite someone was somehow corralled back into the house”, Cota said.
Cota said the police officers who responded did not know that at the time: They were working on the assumption that a pit bull was roaming after attacking a person.
The only roaming pit bull they saw at the site was Ice.
“He was killed tragically, in a case of a mistaken identity,” Trapp wrote on her website.
The Shooting
Police responding to the scene saw a dog, which turned out to be Ice, behind Trapp’s home, roaming around in a wooded area on an embankment overlooking her fenced-in yard.
Cota said the dog jumped off the embankment, and officers could not corral him.
The dog ended up in the front yard of the home. Police officers were on the street.
Officer John Troesser, who shot Ice, said the dog “came charging towards me and was barking aggressively,” according to Cota.
Troesser backed away to keep space between him and the dog, but the dog “continued acting aggressively,” Cota said.
“In this case, the officer was saying this dog was coming at him aggressively,” Cota said. “At that time, the officer felt the only solution was to shoot the dog. The officer that had to do it was upset about it because he is a dog lover.”
Cota said Trapp wasn’t home at the time of the incident. The man who was bit by a dog went to Griffin Hospital for treatment before police showed up. Cota did not know the extent of his injuries.
The dog’s owners, who had at least two pit bulls “and numerous puppies” at the home, were not ticketed after the incident, Cota said.
The dogs were all up to date on vaccinations and the incident happened on private property, he said.
Justified?
Ansonia police have used Taser guns on aggressive dogs in the past, Cota said. This was the first time Cota could recall a dog being shot in Ansonia.
In other cities, dogs have been shot by police officers when they respond to reports of dog attacks. On Tuesday, for example, Waterbury police shot and killed two pit bulls that attacked an elderly woman.
The woman was seriously injured, according to a report by WTNH.
It’s up to the police officer to use judgement on how to proceed, Cota said.
After any incident where an officer’s gun is fired, the department reviews the incident.
“We don’t take it lightly,” Cota said. “It’s not something we typically do. If the officer determines that was the best course to make sure he and the people in the area are safe, that’s what he has to do.”
Selena Horton, who lives next door to Trapp, said she was home at the time of the shooting, but didn’t see what happened.
“I don’t know if it was justified or not,” Horton said.
Horton said she is intimidated by dogs, and knows that small children play in the street on Judson Place, a small dead-end within sight of the Ansonia Public Library.
“I don’t know how dangerous that dog was,” Horton said. “But you don’t want him to bite anybody.”
Saved From Death Row
Posters on the “Justice For Ice” Facebook page are outraged that a pit bull was shot by police — and saddened by the irony that Ice was a rescue dog who faced euthanization before Trapp took him in.
“Ice was saved from death row at MACC. He was very sick when he came to us, but nothing we couldn’t handle,” Trapp wrote in a story about Ice on the dog rescue website. “He was abused before entering the shelter, and being deaf, he was afraid of the world. He has now blossomed into a wonderful happy healthy dog.”
The walk planned in Ice’s memory is scheduled for May 20 at noon. Click here to view the Facebook page for the walk.
Organizers said the walk will bring attention to wrong attitudes toward pit bulls.
“He was killed because of his breed and we are fed up with this injustice for the whole Pit Bull Breed!” the description on Facebook reads. “Let’s walk for him and for all those being falsely judged solely by the breed.”
