Cop Goes on Trial for Shooting a Puppy

A New Orleans police officer who shot and killed a puppy while responding to a call is set to go to trial Monday in a federal lawsuit filed by the dog's owners. The Catahoula Leopard dog ran up to Officer Derrick Burmaster after he entered the yard in response to a report of a domestic disturbance in 2021. The department's internal investigators said the dog did not pose a threat. Multiple internal investigations by the New Orleans Police Department found that the lethal shooting of the 22-pound rescue dog Apollo, who was about 4 months old, violated department policies and was "unjustified," per the AP. But after Apollo's owners sued Burmaster and the city of New Orleans in 2022, department leadership in July 2023 cleared him of wrongdoing for his use of force during the final step in the review.

New Orleans Independent Police Monitor Stella Cziment, whose office has closely followed the case, said that she saw no reason—save the civil lawsuit—for the department's reversal. "I don't see how it aligns with policy; I don't understand how he was exonerated and I disagree with that finding," Cziment said. Longstanding federal oversight of the city's police department put in place after a decades-long history of misconduct and culture of impunity is in the process of winding down. Department leaders have sought to reassure the public that they have built a system of transparency and accountability.

The dog's owners, Derek Brown and Julia Barecki-Brown, say Burmaster violated their constitutional rights by shooting Apollo on their property "in the absence of an objectively legitimate and imminent threat." They are seeking damages for emotional distress after they held Apollo in their arms as he died. They declined to comment via their attorney. Burmaster and New Orleans Police also declined to comment, citing pending litigation. In court filings, Burmaster's attorneys argue he was acting within the scope of his duty as a police officer when he fired the gun—a decade after fatally shooting another dog in a similar situation, police records show. Read more from the AP here. (More police shooting stories.)