A man was found dead in the middle of a St. Petersburg street Wednesday evening, and police shot his dog after the animal turned aggressive toward the officers and first responders who arrived at the scene. The man appeared to have been walking the dog, which was found on a leash beside him, when he died.
Officers responded to reports of a person lying in the road in the 2500 block of Quincy Street, according to WFLA. When they arrived, they found a man who appeared to be middle-aged dead in the street, with the dog still leashed nearby. Police said the dog began acting aggressively toward first responders, and officers shot the animal as a result.
Cause of Death Still Unknown
St. Petersburg police said it appears the man was walking the dog when he died, but they do not currently know the cause of his death. An investigation into the circumstances remained underway as of Wednesday evening, and police said they had no further information available at this time, per the same report.
The dossier of public record does not include the man's identity, his age, or an exact time of death, and those details have not been verified. It is similarly unclear whether the dog survived being shot or what happened to the animal afterward, since no further information has been released.
A Recurring Pattern in Police Encounters With Dogs
Incidents in which officers shoot dogs during calls for service are not unique to St. Petersburg. The ASPCA has reviewed public police firearms-discharge records and found that it is common for 50 percent or more of all shooting incidents to involve an officer shooting a dog, according to the ASPCA. The organization has stated that it believes most instances of police shootings of dogs are avoidable, and it recommends training, nonlethal equipment, and closer coordination with animal-control agencies to reduce such encounters.
Similar cases have made headlines elsewhere in Florida and beyond in recent months. In January, a Fort Lauderdale police officer shot a dog that bit him after the dog had killed a homeowner's pet rabbit, according to police cited by NBC 6 South Florida. In Los Angeles, body-camera footage released by police showed an officer fatally shooting a dog that approached him during a wellness check at a Canoga Park apartment, as reported by Police1, while a separate LAPD shooting of a dog followed a 911 call that turned out to be a false alarm, according to ABC News.
No arrests or charges have been announced in connection with the St. Petersburg case, and investigators have not said whether the man's death involved any criminal element. Police have not released the identities of the responding officers or further details about the department's response, and no additional information was available as the investigation continued.
