Deputy kills dog while searching home for suicidal woman
MONROE TOWNSHIP - A large dog charged a Richland County Sheriff's Office deputy three times Tuesday morning inside a residence on Lucas-Perrysville Road, forcing the deputy to shoot and kill the mixed-breed Rottweiler/bull mastiff, deputies said.
According to the sheriff's report, a deputy was dispatched to the residence in reference to an attempted suicide, but the woman was not in the house and had not been found as of Tuesday afternoon.
Around 9:30 a.m., dispatchers reported a female had called the suicide hotline and said she attempted to hang herself with an extension cord that broke. The woman was coughing and sounded like she was choking when she called, it was reported.
After arriving at the home, the deputy knocked and could hear a TV and a dog barking. The deputy called dispatchers and asked for the female's name and asked to confirm it was the correct address. Dispatchers said they had completed a trace to the address and had recontacted the woman, who she said she did not need help and disconnected, according to the report.
Two deputies entered the unlocked residence to check on the woman. One of the deputies had his stun gun out in case the dog became aggressive. They cleared the first floor and nothing was found, according to the report.
The dog was no longer barking and the two deputies started up the stairs, calling the woman's name. There was no response from the dog or any person.
One of the deputies saw the dog in a bed upstairs and it began to growl and seemed aggressive. The deputies went to the bottom of the stairs and told dispatchers to call the dog warden.
Again, deputies asked dispatchers how they knew this was the correct address. Dispatchers said they contacted the Ohio Highway Patrol and had them do a location check on the phone number and it came back to the same address.
Because of the severity of the call, the two deputies proceeded up the stairs to attempt to secure the dog in the room where it was located. But the dog began to growl and charged at a deputy, according to the report. The deputy ran into the bathroom and could not get a stun gun shot at the dog.
The dog then saw the other deputy on the stairs and aggressively charged him, according to the report. The dog charged a deputy three separate times and each time the deputy fired a round at the animal.
No person could be found in the residence or in any of the buildings on the property, according to the sheriff's office report.
The landlord was contacted and said the woman deputies were seeking no longer lives there. The current tenant was advised of the situation and said the dog was protecting the residence.
Richland County Sheriff's Office Maj. Joe Masi said deputies are still concerned about the woman who called for help.
"We cannot be certain where she made the call from," he said Tuesday afternoon. "We want physical contact with her. We're concerned about her. We're trying to locate her."
Dave Jordan, the dog warden for Richland County, arrived at the scene afterward.
"My heart goes out to both the deputy and dog owner," Jordan said. "It was a series of events that just ended badly. I always encourage people to put signs up at their home. I'm not assigning blame. It's good protection to have a 'beware of the dog' sign, but the deputy's mission was to save someone."
lwhitmir@nncogannett.com
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Twitter: @LWhitmir