MEMPHIS, TN - Drug use by a Memphis Police Officer who shot a dog late last month. We're learning more about what happened when a burglar alarm in high point terrace resulted in one dog shot and one on the loose. We're also learning more about the officers involved in the incident.
The Memphis Police Department recently ruled the shooting justified. Officers say the dogs charged them, but one of the officers involved was suspended from the force just days before the shooting.
Personnel files for veteran police officer Harold Buckley show, on a random drug screening in September, he tested positive for cocaine. He was suspended from the force for 15 days. Less than two weeks after that suspension was up, the call came in to respond to Anna Bolton's house.
"Why they entered,” Anna said the day after the shooting. “I just don't know. If they felt their life was in jeopardy, why did they open the gate?"
Anna Bolton still doesn't think the police had any right to shoot her dogs. She says she has recordings from the alarm company that proves police knew about the animal's presence.
"The truth is, it's absolutely unjustified,” Bolton said earlier this week. “Even the detective that was at my home said that it should not have happened. So now they're saying the opposite."
Now she's started a petition to get the Mayor to require more training to officers on how to handle dogs.
Memphis SPCA President Nina Wingfield recently held a course for Collierville officers on how to better handle situations like the one that happened at Anna's house.
"Every time you can reinforce training is invaluable to your doing your job well,” Wingfield said. “The first priority is keeping them safe, but I think if we give them extra tools out there to use to help make batter judgment decisions, it's a benefit for them and the community."
Officer Buckley was also disciplined for an incident in 2001. According to his files, he raised his voice and called someone a liar. He was suspended for one day and had to undergo sensitivity training.
The other cop involved in the October shooting, Officer LeCharra Yarbrough, has no disciplinary reports in her personnel file. Each cop fired one shot at the dogs. It's unclear which one's bullet struck anna bolton's dog.
