LOS ANGELES, July 12 (UPI) -- Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies used a stun gun on a dog, shot it, and then let it bleed to death, the dog's owner alleges in a lawsuit.
Deputies responding to a December shooting in the Pico Rivera section of Los Angeles "senselessly tortured and killed" the 5-year-old pit bull, named Chico Blue, the lawsuit alleges.
Attorney Jill Ryther, who filed the suit on behalf of the dog's owner, Arturo Gonzalez, said "this is definitely one of the worst [cases] I've seen," Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
The lawsuit said the dog was in the backyard of the Gonzalez home, where the owner was detained by police on a separate matter. Officers refused repeated pleas by Gonzalez to be allowed to put the dog away, the suit said.
Instead, a deputy threw a chair over the fence at the dog and another officer shot the dog twice with a stun gun.
The dog staggered into the front yard, where another officer shot it twice. The dog jumped into an open patrol vehicle and a deputy slammed the door and let the dog bleed to death inside, the suit claims.
Sheriff's Department spokesman Steve Whitmore said officers did nothing wrong, adding "we look forward to telling the whole story."
