York City Police Commissioner gives more context in officer-involved shooting
By Morrissey Walsh
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YORK, Pa. (WGAL) — In a room full of community stakeholders, leaders, and members of law enforcement, York City Police Commissioner Michael Muldrow was able to share more context after an officer shot a dog and wounded its owner when responding to a call in June.
“Moments like these, and doing difficult work like this, are important, not to change people’s minds; they’re important because I believe that this community, who you represent, deserves an explanation,” said Police Commissioner Michael Muldrow. “Simply put, that’s why we do things like this, because we should. We have a difficult job, and we do have authorities and things we have to do, but we also need to be able to explain that to the community that we’re dealing with.”
Body camera footage explained Muldrow played the body camera footage of the officer involved in the shooting at the meeting but it was not released to the general public.
The footage only lasted a matter of minutes. The police department was called out by neighbors for a report of a person “terrorizing” a home, breaking out the windows with a baseball bat, according to Muldrow.
On scene, the officer asked people down the street if they had seen anything, and then went to knock on the door of a rowhome apartment on the 300 block of West Philadelphia Street. In the video, the officer knocked on the door of the apartment, and a dog is barking in the background. The officer was radioing to dispatch, waiting at the door, and got no response. The officer went back outside to take photos of the damage to the windows before going back inside to knock on the door a second time.
The dog was still barking, and the police radio was still going off when the officer knocked. On the body camera footage, a faint “who is it?” can be heard. It appears the officer did not hear the question and turned to leave.
What happened next only lasted a matter of seconds.
“Tension inside. Tension inside the apartment. Tension inside for the dog. Tension inside for the owner. Door gets cracked open. Dog goes for it,” said Muldrow.
Out of the open door, the dog charged at the officer. The officer ran away, as the dog continued to chase the officer, growling and barking.
Then, the officer grabbed his gun, firing off three shots. Muldrow said one of the shots ricocheted into the leg of the dog’s owner, who came out of the apartment after the dog. The officer immediately went to put a tourniquet on the man’s leg and called for backup.
Other officers began to arrive at the scene, assessing the situation. According to York City Police Internal Affairs, the dog was on the ground, not moving, for over two minutes.
“I truly believe, in the beginning, like the inspector showed me, believe as they saw and said in other body camera footage, they initially believed the dog was dead. And once he reanimated momentarily, then there was decisions being made on whether or not to put the dog down. But the officer that was trying to decide on even putting the dog down, because of how bad he was fatally wounded, felt uncomfortable in a city environment with other people around, whether or not he could actually take the shot to put him down and not cause any more harm, like what he was already witnessing next to the victim.”
Muldrow addresses community’s questions The shooting on June 16 left the community with a lot of questions, and on Tuesday, Muldrow shared more details beyond what was initially released by the police and the D.A.’s Office, as well as what was shared on social media by bystanders, through showing body camera footage to a group of community members, including representatives from the York County SPCA, York City Council, and Lt. David Godfrey.
“I do appreciate this opportunity coming in. This video has a lot of context that, typically, we’re not privy to,” one person said.
Some community members say seeing the body camera footage helped them better understand the situation.
“What did society do? Nowadays, they run with a story without getting the full knowledge of what really happened. That’s where the problem is. The people that were out there harassing [the officer] and cussing out the officer had no idea that he put his gun away. He put that tourniquet on [the victim’s] leg to stop the bleeding to assist him. He was still in shock when he did his job,” one community member said.
Community conversation sparks new idea Others asked if more could have been done for the dog after it was hurt.
“Once we realized that the young man who got shot was fine and was going to survive, then to me I felt like, okay, now let’s turn our attention to this animal and get him or her some services,” another person said.
Muldrow explained that police are legally required to render aid to people, not animals. He said the dog remained completely still for over two minutes, leading the officer to believe it was dead. When the dog began moving, officers were unable to clear the buildings or safely put the dog down due to the number of people at the scene.
Muldrow also addressed the question of whether this situation could have been handled differently, like with a taser or pepper spray.
“The likelihood that pepper spray is going to stop an enraged animal isn’t hot,” commented Muldrow. “Why not a taser? Because tasers aren’t meant for small objects. They target large portions of the body because you have to have two engaged prongs to be able to create the arc of electricity necessary to stop the threat that’s in front of you, on a human being. Two shots of placement. The goal target on a taser is a human torso. The size and the target that a human torso presents is not the same as a moving dog.”
The meeting also inspired new ideas for handling similar situations in the future.
“I want to put together a committee that we can reach out to some to say, hey, can you come and help? Whether it’s having unfortunately to put the dog to sleep, or brush it off, or be able to do something on the scene to help?” Shelley Metzler said. Metzler is the founder of West York BARk, an organization made up of volunteers who search for lost pets, rescue found pets, and respond to emergencies involving an animal.
Metzler says the list could have local veterinarians as well as animal hospitals. So first responders could call them right away. West York BARk says community conversations like this one play an important part in making change.
“I also see the need now for, medical side to come to incidents like this to help the officers work with whatever’s happening with the animal,” Metzler said.
DA rules shooting “thoroughly justified” York County District Attorney Tim Barker ruled this shooting “thoroughly justified.”
“The Pennsylvania State Police is conducting the investigation into this incident. The investigation is active and ongoing at this time. Initial information provided for my review from this investigation, however, which includes the officer’s Body Worn Camera (“BWC”) and Mobile Video Recording (“MVR”) footage, allows me to make specific findings and legal conclusions that the remaining investigation could not possibly contradict,” Barker said. “Accordingly, I find that the indisputable video evidence establishes that the York City Police Department officer was completely and thoroughly justified in using his service firearm to defend himself from an immediate threat of death or serious bodily harm.”
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