Nearly a month after a Balcones Heights police officer fatally shot a dog, body camera footage depicting the events leading up to the incident has been released. On Nov. 19, Officer Juan Morin was dispatched to the Sol Apartments following an assault report. Per the incident report obtained by KSAT, upon arriving at the scene, an altercation was already in progress between a couple and a 49-year-old man, who allegedly struck their car and punched one individual after a brief exchange of greetings.
As the situation escalated, Morin confronted the man, who was at the time walking his dog. "The officer had used his verbal skills in order to try to talk to the suspect," Police Chief John Jahanara told KSAT. When verbal attempts to de-escalate failed, Morin deployed his Taser, which seemingly failed to effectively subdue the man but triggered the dog to run aggressively towards the officer.
According to the footage, Morin can be heard shouting to the man to gain control of his dog before the animal charged at him multiple times, leading Morin to shoot it twice. Police Chief Jahanara, in a statement obtained by News 4 San Antonio, mentioned that the Taser might have provoked the dog's reaction. "The animal didn't know the difference between if we were there to talk or to figure out what was going on or what had happened," Jahanara said.
An internal investigation was quickly launched, and Morin was placed on administrative leave during the inquiry. "We treated it as a officer-involved shooting, no different than if my officer would have shot the suspect or the owner," Jahanara informed News 4 San Antonio. Since the department lacked specific guidelines for such incidents, the chief expressed his intention to develop a new policy going forward. Following the incident, the man, acknowledged to be mentally ill, came to terms with the loss of his dog, reportedly apologizing for his actions and asking for the dog's collar and leash.
