Cop kills Bear-Bear at Arundel dog park: Justified?

by Jill Rosen
Baltimore Sun
Aug. 04, 2010

Stunned dog owners and residents of a Severn neighborhood are shocked that authorities won’t be charging a federal police officer who shot and killed a Siberian Husky Monday night at a community dog park.

Bear-Bear, a brown and white Husky that’s about three years old, was playing in the Quail Run dog park at about 6:30 p.m., running off leash inside the fenced-in area, when the officer and his wife arrived with a German Shepherd, who was kept on a leash. When the dogs began to play roughly — the federal officer asked Bear-Bear’s guardian, his owner’s brother, to call off the dog. But before he could do anything, the officer pulled out a gun and shot Bear-Bear.

Bear-Bear, who belongs to Rachel Rettaliata, died of his injuries a few hours later.

“I’ve been bawling my eyes out since 7 p.m. last night,” Rettaliata said. “It’s grief mixed with anger. We’re so angry this guy was able to take our animal for what we feel was no reason at all.

“We still don’t believe that he’s gone. We just want so badly to be diligent about this. [The officer] has to pay some sort of consequence for his foolishness.”

A spokesman for Anne Arundel County Police Department said no charges will be filed and investigators found no evidence of criminal activity.

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