Tresa Baldas

Detroit Free Press

A pair of dog owners in Flint have filed a federal lawsuit against a state investigator, alleging he shot their 15-year-old dog in the face while raiding the wrong house.

According to the lawsuit, a team of officers was trying to catch a fugitive but ended up at the wrong house, with an innocent bystander getting shot: an old mixed-breed pooch named Chloe.

Chloe survived, but has had three surgeries and lost part of her tongue and one canine tooth. Her breed is not known. Her owners claim their constitutional rights were violated: the officers unreasonably destroyed or seized their property -- in this case, Chloe -- which is prohibited under the Fourth Amendment.

Here, according to the lawsuit filed Oct. 3 in U.S. District Court, is what triggered the suit.

Flint residents Erica Morena and Katti Putnam were sitting in their house on June 18 when their home was suddenly raided by police. They were looking for a fugitive, who was actually next door. A Michigan Department of Corrections investigator went in their backyard.

Chloe the dog heard commotion and came down the stairs of the house and ventured out the back door, which was open, and made her way to the backyard.

That's when the investigator shot her right below the nose, according to a neighbor who witnessed the shooting. She had on a collar. She wasn't barking. And she has no history of biting anyone.

Chloe's owners heard the shot and ran to her rescue. They also heard the troopers say they were at the wrong house.

The officers told Chloe's owners to take her to the vet and said, "We'll take care of this."

The owners went to the vet, then got a lawyer: Royal Oak attorney Christopher Olson, who has filed several similar dog shooting lawsuits.

"They really had no right to be there," Olson said of the officers. "The police went to the wrong house and shot these folks dog in their own back yard ... They turned the situation into a violent one."

And, he added, "they recognized there was a mistake."

MDOC officials were not available for comment.

Olson, who is seeking unspecified punitive and compensatory damages, said this is not an isolated incident. He has several dog injury lawsuits pending against police, including one that wound up in Time Magazine. Police nationwide are mishandling dog encounters because they have "zero training" in this area, he said, noting such video training is available for free online.

"Had they followed the protocols in these training videos, this would not have happened," Olson said of Chloe's shooting. "It's too bad not only for my clients and the dog ... but this is something that is a nationwide epidemic. It's a big problem and it's something that doesn't necessarily have to happen."

In Chloe's case, he said: "There was time, and when there's time, you need to isolate the dog."

Olson also said the officers have not made good on their promise to "take care of this." He said Chloe's veterinary bill still has not been covered. And when his clients call the police or state officials about it, he said, no one returns their calls.

June 18 proved to be a tough day for Chloe's owners on a number of levels. Olson noted that when they drove Chloe to the vet, they got pulled over by a state trooper for speeding.

They avoided a ticket, however. And the trooper gave them an escort to the vet clinic.