Lodi officers won't face charges in dog's death

Mar. 17—STOCKTON — The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office announced on Friday that no charges will be filed against three Lodi Police Department employees in the January death of a family dog.

"Any use of force by a peace officer must legally be analyzed and judged in the perspective of what a reasonable officer in similar circumstances would do, and in the totality of the entire situation, not just based upon the few seconds of a widely shared video," the DA said in a memo to Chief Sierra Brucia. "A peace officer's first priority and goal is the protection of others. The benefit of hindsight is not to be used in the review of the evidence and facts in any given case."

The DA said the officers were found to be acting "in a manner they felt was reasonable and justified, to safeguard members of the public who may have been in danger."

In a post to the department's Facebook page, Brucia said that an internal affairs investigation is still ongoing independent of the criminal investigation.

"The purpose of the internal affairs investigation is to determine if there are any training or policy violations that occurred during this incident. This process will provide us with the opportunity to take an introspective look into our training and policies regarding our response to animal calls."

Brucia said the department has already initiated efforts to better handle such calls, including enrolling department personnel into training provided by The Humane Society. The department is also purchasing additional equipment to assist officers in responding to calls for animal service and reviewing its taser and animal services policies.

"I want to personally thank our community for their patience throughout the process. I would also like to acknowledge those who reached out to express concerns regarding Enzo's death," Brucia said. "We remain committed to ensuring that our actions accurately and appropriately reflect the values our our department and the expectations of our community."

According to the Lodi Police Department, officers received a report of an aggressive dog on Jan. 24 in the area of Sandpiper Circle at about 3:12 p.m.

It was reported that the dog was a loose husky that had chased a family with young children into their residence and was trying to bite them.

The dog then began to try to get through the resident's side gate to attack their dog, police said.

When an animal services officer arrived, they saw a citizen using a piece of wood to block himself and his pet dog, from the vicious dog, police said.

Numerous attempts were made to try to catch the dog, but were unsuccessful. The animal services officer tried to place a snare on the dog twice, but it broke free both times, police said.

When officers arrived to help animal services, police said the dog approached a group of individuals standing in front of their residence.

The officer deployed his taser, which is a less lethal device, to stun and incapacitate the dog, in order to give animal services a chance to safely secure the dog, police said.

The dog ultimately died from the taser deployment, police said.

Aline Galeno and mother Anna Marquez said the family's four dogs — a Yorkshire terrier and three huskies — were able to get out of the house and into the street on Sandpiper Circle.

Marquez was able to recover the terrier, and two of the huskies returned home one their own. The third, 2-year-old Enzo, kept running, she said.

Enzo somehow made his way to Finch Run, which is located to the northwest of Sandpiper Circle.

Witnesses who encountered Enzo that day told the News-Sentinel at the time that the dog was not acting aggressive toward neighbors or the officers responding to the scene.

The DA said it thoroughly reviewed all the submitted reports, videos, photographs, and social media posts provided to the office.

"Our office also has an ethical duty which requires us to not file criminal charges if we believe we cannot prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt, to a jury," the DA said. "It is our determination that no criminal charges are warranted."