Another dog shot when police screw up the address

December 18, 11:16 AMCivil Liberties ExaminerJ.D. Tuccille

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Add a two-year-old Dalmation to the ranks of dogs gunned down by police officers who considered themselve to be in "imminent danger" when the cops had no business being where they were to begin with. This time, the perforated pooch was at its owners' home in Gwinnet County, Georgia, when police dropped by for a visit -- at the wrong house. But it could have been worse. A human could have died.

According to Fox 5 News:

The homeowner said when police went into the garage she heard three shots.  The homeowner said an officer told her they shot the dog and the dog ran off.

The 2-year-old Dalmatian was found the Wednesday morning at a neighbor's home.

Officer said they were looking for a material witness in a gang member's trial, but they entered the wrong home.  Police entered 1468B, instead of 1468A.

Officers said the dog charged and the officer felt he was in imminent danger and shot the dog.

Gwinnett County is proving to be quite the dangerous place to live if you fail to give the authorities your home's GPS coordinates or to stencil the address in luminescent paint on the sidewalk out front. Last week, police burst into a house in Lawrenceville in the course of a no-knock drug raid. Only after the door was off the hinges did they realize that their map-reading skills had once again proven wanting. According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The investigators intended to serve the search warrant at a home on Valley Spring Drive in Lawrenceville about 9:15 a.m. One of the investigators mistakenly pointed out another house nearby.

Once the officers forced entry to the house, they briefly detained a male and female resident before determining they were in the wrong place.

The search was immediately halted and no intrusive search was ever executed, said police spokeswoman Cpl. Illana Spellman. A supervisor came to the scene to further explain the situation and apologize to the residents.

The department also is paying to repair their front door, Spellman said.

After the raid, resident John Louis asked, "If you had the house under surveillance for three months, why did you come here? You broke in here and put all our lives in danger, and all you can say is you’re sorry?”

Gwinnet County residents can consider the raid at Louis's home a warning, and the death of the Dalmation to be a blood-soaked escalation that could have been a human being.

Somebody needs to teach these cops how to tell one damned address from the next.

Contact J.D.: civilliberties (at) tuccille.com