A St. Paul couple says they’re talking with an attorney about a possible lawsuit after a SWAT team killed the family’s two pit bulls while executing a search warrant, the Pioneer Press reports.
Camille Perry, who is eight months pregnant, told the newspaper she threw her body over her two sleeping children and screamed “Stop shooting!” when officers opened fire on the dogs at about 7 a.m. Wednesday.
A St. Paul police spokesman told FOX 9 the dogs charged at the officers, who feared for their safety.
Perry and her fiancée, Larry Arman, told the Pioneer Press the dogs, Mello and Laylo, were sleeping near the door and only barked when the SWAT team used a battering ram to enter the home on St. Paul’s east side.
Perry said she was preparing for work when the raid occurred, while Arman was sleeping alongside the children, ages 4 and 7, on a mattress on the floor.
The couple told the newspaper they would have allowed the officers to search the home if they had knocked. They said the officers were searching for marijuana, guns, computers, and equipment for weighing or packaging drugs.
Read the entire article here http://bringmethenews.com/2014/07/10/no-arrests-after-swat-team-kills-st-paul-familys-dogs-during-raid/
Source: Bring Me the News, “SWAT team kills St. Paul family’s dogs during raid, no arrests made” William Wilcoxen, July 10, 2014.