California police kills dog after arresting owner for shooting video

Police in Hawthorne, Calif. are facing criticism after an officer was caught on video shooting and killing a dog after arresting his owner for shooting video on the street.

Leon Rosby was reportedly walking back to his car from the dog park with his 2-year old Rottweiler Max, when he spotted a police barricade and decided to film them with his phone to make sure they weren't violating anyone's civil rights.

Rosby, 52, has filed six complaints against Hawthorne Police and has a pending lawsuit against an officer who allegedly broke his rib.

Rosby told reporters he saw one of the officers named in his lawsuit take notice of him and decided to put his dog back in the car before turning himself in.

In a clip posted online by YouTube user Gabriel Martinez, Rosby makes sure to put Max in his car before walking toward the officers and turning around for them to handcuff him. When police started handcuffing Rosby Max barked at them from the open window but it's not until they aggressively kicked his legs apart that the dog jumped out of the car.

The dog then approached officers and seemed to hesitate but Max was shot four times by one of the cops.

Hawthorne police released a statement claiming the officer shot Max because he feared the dog could "imminently" bite the officers.

"The dog lunged and made aggressive movements towards the officer. Fearing that the attacking Rottweiler would imminently bite the officers, one officer fired his duty weapon several times, striking and killing the dog."

According to Rosby, "that dog would not have lunged at you if you wouldn't have approached him like that, I know it, I know my dog."

After killing his dog, police arrested Rosby for Obstruction of Justice, playing loud music, walking a large dog, and getting too close to officers.

WARNING: The following video is extremely graphic and uncensored.