Surveillance video allegedly shows LAPD officers shoot family dog with non lethal round

WINNETKA, Calif. - A Winnetka dog owner has filed a complaint against two officers from the Los Angeles Police Department after home surveillance video shows his dog being shot by a non-lethal round in his own driveway.

The alleged incident happened on Thursday. The dog owner, Cory Lennon, says he was feeding his 9-month-old baby when his fiance heard a commotion outside of their home.

"My fiance heard officers' radios while I was feeding the baby so she got up and said hey there's two officers walking up the driveway. She opened the door before I did and right as she was opening the door, two officers were right here next to the car," said Lennon.

Lennon said his 4-year-old pitbull, Ruby, was shot by a non-lethal bean bag round.  

"Ruby's forehead was split. [She was shot] straight between the eyes and split her face open. She was bleeding out of her nostrils. She was drooling blood out of her mouth. She got pretty messed up," said Lennon.

Lennon reviewed the surveillance video and he said it showed two LAPD officers approaching his driveway. The video appears to show one of the officers yelling commands to the dog like "back up," and "come here." The video also appears to show an officer fire a non-lethal round towards Ruby and Ruby runs to the backyard.

Lennon said he did not realize his dog was shot when he initially ran out of the front door.

"It was a non-lethal round but it is still crazy that they even took that route. Why not trip the siren or yell for the owner? You hear the shotgun [in the video]. You guys knew you were gonna pull that trigger when you came up the driveway. What was the end game when you actually got to my dog? What was gonna happen besides you pulling the trigger and shooting my dog?" said Lennon.

Lennon said officers told him that they were in the neighborhood on a report of an aggressive dog.

"They said that there was an aggressive dog attacking people in the streets and it was linked to this address. There's no police report. There are no injured people. There's nothing that states anyone was injured, that she harmed anybody. She probably barked at somebody and scared them like any dog would. They [officers] didn't even know if they shot the right dog. They shot the first dog that they saw," said Lennon.

Lennon said officers told him they fired at the dog after feeling "threatened."

"They claim that my dog showed teeth and barked and that's why they opened fire on her but they backed her up. It [Ruby] only felt threatened when the officers got between the car and the camper and it was cornered all the way back and one of the officers even said come here prior to the gunshot going off. You can go to any driveway in my neighborhood, and when two officers have a firearm, the dog is going to bark 100 percent of the time," said Lennon.

Lennon said he took Ruby to the veterinarian and was left with an expensive bill. Ruby is expected to be OK, but they are monitoring her closely.

"They [LAPD] did offer for us to submit the bill and that they would cover it, but that doesn't justify what happened to my animal. She's traumatized," said Lennon.

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Lennon said Ruby is a pitbull they rescued from New York.

"We gave her a new home and a new life and now she has to kind of start over again. The dog sleeps in bed with us and goes in the crib with her [their infant]. All of my neighbors know her. She's not a threat to anybody. Did she probably bark at someone? She probably did, but no one was injured," he said.

Lennon filed a complaint against the two officers.

"Stuff like this needs to get out there because it happens all the time with humans too. It happens with humans and animals and people need to be held accountable for doing something like that," said Lennon.

FOX 11 spoke with LAPD officials over the phone Friday, and the officers said because there's an active complaint and investigation, they cannot comment on the alleged incident.  

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