4 min read Cop Who Slit Innocent Dog's Throat Walks Free

"I'm going to f------ gut this thing." According to an eyewitness, that's what Officer Jeffrey Bolger said as he approached Nala, a 7-year-old Shar-Pei, in Baltimore last summer. Minutes later, Nala was dead and Bolger had slit her throat. But in the eyes of the law, Bolger committed no crime.

In July of last year, Sarah Gossard told the Baltimore Sun her dog Nala got loose from their backyard after slipping through an open gate. Police say a passerby then tried to stop the lost dog and find her home when Nala bit her hand, leaving a superficial wound. Bolger and fellow officer Thomas Schmidt subsequently responded to the scene, restraining Nala and tethering her with a dog-control pole. After that, witnesses say the officers held Nala down and slit her throat with a knife. Bolger, left, and Schmidt, right.Baltimore Police Department

Bolger, left, and Schmidt, right. | Baltimore Police Department

On Thursday, Judge Melissa Phinn acquitted Bolger of mutilating an animal, animal cruelty and misconduct in office. In her ruling, the judge cited the testimony of Maryland's chief medical examiner, who said Nala had "strangled herself" on Schmidt's dog pole - contrary to the findings of a doctor who examined Nala and determined she died of blood loss from a cut artery. Charges against Schmidt, whose lawyers say he "followed police protocol," were also dropped earlier this year.