JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Some may find the footage shown in this story to be graphic in nature. Discretion advised.
Police body camera footage obtained by News4JAX shows the moments leading to a Jacksonville police officer shooting and killing a family’s dog in the Paxon neighborhood.
News4JAX also learned the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office’s Response to Resistance board found the officer’s actions were within departmental guidelines after it was proven the dog bit the officer on his hand and leg.
It happened at a home on Rockwood Drive near Beaver Street. When we first reported the story, the dog’s owner requested JSO release the bodycam video, and Wednesday, we received it.
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Police body camera footage obtained by News4JAX shows the moments leading to a Jacksonville police officer shooting and killing a family’s dog in the Paxon neighborhood.
In the bodycam video, patrol officer Karl Lampkin is heard asking Kimberly Barus to see her dogs after receiving a complaint that her animals chased a teenage boy at 6:30 a.m. Officer Lampkin wanted to see if the dogs would walk out of the yard if Barus opened the gate.
“Well, he’s out the gate. Hey bud. Hey. Get back!” the officer yells before firing shots.
“Why would you f****** do that?” the owner yells.
Lucy, the 1-year-old Great Dane mix, died from multiple gunshots. When we received the video, we checked back in with Barus.
“I particularly don’t want to see the video because I already lived it. I can’t relive it again,” Barus told us. “I wanted the video released for the public to see what happened and to know we were telling the truth, that the officer went way too far with this.”
We asked Barus if she felt the situation could have been handled differently.
“Way different,” Barus said. “First of all, I should not have been asked to open a fence that has a sign that says ‘beware of the dog’ and ‘no trespassing.’ Secondly, the first shot was missed. The dog was clearly running from him and he should have never fired again.”
Defense attorney Randy Reep, a former prosecutor, is not affiliated with this case. He reviewed the video in regular speed and slow-motion and says several things stuck out to him.
“He invited the dog to him. A threat he brought to himself. The dog was previously properly contained. I think animal control folks will tell you that. Secondly. The need to discharge a firearm when he has so many other tools available to him. A baton. A taser. All sorts of non-deadly forces,” Reep said. “Then what’s really disturbing is the dog was actually fleeing at that point when the officer continues to discharge a firearm. And that should be very worrisome. He’s discharging that firearm down range.”
Lucy did bite the officer on both his finger and leg, and Reep said the officer had the right to defend himself, but said after firing the first round at Lucy and missing:
“The dog was clearly leaving, fleeing if you will. Discharging those other rounds, three or four seems extreme,” Reep said.
Former officer, dog behavior expert reviews footage
News4JAX showed the footage to Jim Crosby a former Jacksonville police officer who’s now a dog behavior expert.
“I watched the video and I’m honestly horrified by what I see,” Crosby said.
Crosby is currently training a police force on how to handle encounters with dogs. He first questions why the officer would have the owner of the dogs open the gate to see if they would come out.
“To me, having worked with JSO as a full career, and running a couple of animal control agencies, and being a behavioral expert, I don’t know why you would ask to see if a dog would come out of an open fenced gate with the owner standing outside the gate. That doesn’t make sense,” he said.
As noted earlier in this story, the review board cleared the officer of any wrongdoing, staying the officer’s actions were within department guidelines. Crosby sees it differently.
“You’re allowed to use deadly force to eliminate a threat. You’re not authorized to use force for retribution or revenge,” Crosby said. “If the officer was shooting at the dog because it bit him, that’s retribution.”
Crosby said the officer continuing to fire multiple shots was also a concern.
“It did concern me that there were multiple shots fired at a dog running away from the officer and did not pose a threat to anyone else,” he said.
Lucy’s owners have already hired an attorney out of Gainesville who specializes in cases involving animals and say they are filing a lawsuit against JSO.