7 min read Cop Runs Over Old, Deaf Dog 3 Times, Then Shoots Her

<p><a href="http://www.theenterprisebulletin.com/2015/10/22/petition-lights-up-over-death-of-dog" target="_blank">CHRIS DOUCETTE/Postmedia Network</a><span></span></p>

Merrick - a beloved family dog who just happened to be deaf - had managed to make it all the way to 21 years of age. Still, she never lost her talent for sniffing out an adventure. When a storm blew open the back gate at her home in Collingwood, just north of Toronto, the old dog ventured off into the night. But then in an unexpected and tragic turn, Merrick was run over three times by a police cruiser before she was finally shot dead.

Karen Sutherland shows a picture of her dog Merrick, the animal struck and killed by an OPP officer @CityNews pic.twitter.com/z3UH5HbpBp

- Amanda Ferguson (@CityNewsAmanda) October 21, 2015

Her crime? Police thought she was a coyote. In fact, she was a cattle dog. The disturbing Monday night encounter was captured on video. Warning: Disturbing content below It appears to show a police cruiser plowing over the dog several times. An officer emerges from the car. Gunshots ring out. The rest of the harrowing soundtrack comprises screaming, breathless witnesses offering a steady refrain of "Oh god Oh god Oh god." "Look, he's hitting it again. Oh my god, he just ran the coyote over ... Oh god, oh no, stop it. No!"

Karen Sutherland, the dog's owner, told reporters that Merrick suffers from dementia, and had slipped through a gate in her backyard during a storm. "I'm a little bit in shock ... I didn't watch the video until [Wednesday] morning. It was enough to make me a lot more upset than I was last night," Sutherland told CityNews. Christine Soti, a Collingwood resident who witnessed the incident, told the Globe and Mail that Merrick was still moving after being hit by the car a third time. "The eyes were opening and closing." In the wake of Merrick's killing, police are facing tough questions about how officers deal with animal situations. The Ontario Provincial Police did not immediately return a call to The Dodo, but Inspector John Trude told Postmedia Network that there had been complaints from two residents about a coyote on the loose. "When the officer got there, it was growling," he said. "The actions of the dog caused the officer to believe it was still aggressive.

"Coyote" Police Officer Killed Was 21-yr-old Deaf & Blind "Merrick" https://t.co/q4hl52gifH

- Project Coyote (@ProjectCoyote) October 23, 2015

"Of course, in hindsight, there was an explanation for it. But (with) what the officer knew at the time, he came to the conclusion that, first, it was a coyote and, secondly, that it was ill or not normal and that for the safety of the fairly-residential community, it had to be put down." Generally, police base their decisions to put down an animal on the level of threat posed to the public. Or, as Trude explained, "an honest belief that it's a danger to let that animal go."