The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE 

and JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporters

NATIONAL Security Minister Wayne Munroe said investigators found no breach of policy in a correctional officer’s fatal shooting of a family dog, meaning the officer will not face disciplinary action despite widespread public outrage – a decision Bahamas Humane Society president Kim Aranha last branded ‘predictable.’

“That attack was unwarranted,” she said. “Now, of course, they’re going to defend their own. Bravo. That’s what we said they’d do. They haven’t surprised us.”

Mr Munroe said authorities reviewed the circumstances of the incident and found nothing that warranted discipline under existing firearm rules.

“They looked at all of the facts,” he said. “For instance, if you discharge a firearm where you may be in danger of causing collateral damage, that would be something that would call for discipline. You're not supposed to fire a firearm out of a moving vehicle, things like that, so nothing that would call to say that he breached any policy with regard the use of the firearm was found.”

He said such incidents are judged from the officer’s perspective at the time rather than by hindsight.

“The judgment on how it's done is not whether me or Rashad would do it because Wayne Munroe or Rashad Rolle might not use deadly force, and we may end up dead, and there might be nothing wrong with our decision not to use deadly force, but it's a subjective judgment, so the investigating officer will say, why use deadly force? And they would judge well, is that something that would be justifiable sitting where he is sitting, not as a Monday morning quarterback.”

Yesterday, the Bahamas Humane Society president, Kim Aranha, called the decision not to punish the officer predictable.

“They’re just protecting themselves,” she said. “I called it from the beginning. The man killed the dog and the dog was not attacking the man, therefore that is why I was calling for an independent investigation.”

Responding to Mr Munroe’s comments about collateral damage, Mrs Aranha said the officer was merely lucky.

“To me that doesn’t fly,” she said. “You’re saying to me that policeman could shoot at something as long as there’s nobody else around? Why was he walking around with his gun unholstered?”

The shooting occurred on March 6 on Soldier Road as correctional officers walked in a funeral procession for retired officer Andrew Sears.

Video shared widely online shows officers with leashed dogs passing the property of veteran Bahamian musician Duke Errol Strachan when two dogs began barking and approached. One officer, who had his handgun already drawn, fired a single shot that killed the three-year-old dog.

The killing sparked national outrage and criticism from animal welfare advocates.

Mr Strachan, 92, said the dog belonged to him and had been given to him by his daughter.

On Friday, the Department of Correctional Services apologised to Mr Strachan and committed to giving him a new dog.

When The Tribune visited his Soldier Road home on Friday, Mr Strachan and his wife were being visited by members of the department. Two other dogs sat in the front yard. Prison Commissioner Doan Cleare said it was important to bring the matter to a conclusion.

“I appreciate their concern, and they came here and drove to settle it,” Mr Strachan said in response. “We came to a conclusion, which I'm quite satisfied. They're going to find me a dog.”

He said officers also agreed to provide money to help feed the dog.

Although grateful for the gesture, Mr Strachan said he still misses the animal. He recalled putting food out for the dog, sometimes forgetting that it was gone forever.

Asked if he forgave the officer who shot the dog, he said yes, but still questioned why it happened.

“It was totally unnecessary,” he said.