At the start of this month, Nipsey the nursing dog was shot in the face by an officer after he was warned not to go into the back of a yard on Supal Street. Since then, Nipsey's family has had to pay hundreds of dollars in vet bills to keep her alive, and has also had to spend dozens of sleepless nights tending to her newborn puppies - since she can't nurse anymore. And while Nipsey survived, she's no longer the same happy carefree dog - she's nervous and scared.
The family said that they wanted justice for Nipsey, and compensation from the police department. Today the ComPol said that he believes the department will have to comply following the findings by the PSB.
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"I know that the report has been made to PSB, PSB is looking at the matter and I will have to check with them to see how far they are with the investigation and then provide the feedback perhaps some other time. But I know that the matter was reporter, PSB has some kind of control over it and something should be done. In terms of the compensation for the family for the dog I believe that once it is found that PSB is at fault which I'm sure they are, then we have to find some way to work out some form of compensation to them."
Courtney Menzies:
"This is, I believe, the second or third time we've done a case like this where an officer goes into someone's yard, the dog barks as dogs do, and then the officer pulls out a gun a shoots the dog. Is this an issue that these trigger happy cops, they just pull and fire at defenseless dogs, the dog can't really defend themselves."
Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police
"We have to, Courtney, I don't know how I got you and Jules at the same time, but we have to make sure when we look at things, we balance it. There are some dog owners who, knowing that their dogs are aggressive, whenever the police comes to their yard, they let their dog go to attack the police. When that happens, the police will do what needs to be done to defend themselves. And we have had many such circumstances so in that case you can't blame the police. If the police have a lawful right to be at your house and you see the police coming and you let your dog go to attack the police then what comes to your dog is a direct result of your actions and not the police."
