James Austin stood in front of a two-story Brooklyn row house, watching his puppy, Dutchess, play with a pair of pants while, a few feet away, a friend’s dog, Stoney, was tethered to a fence. At that moment, they were companions — both to him and in the eyes of the law.

That would all change in a matter of seconds.

A drug suspect, being pursued by two plainclothes officers, ran into Mr. Austin’s building. The authorities said Mr. Austin commanded the dogs to attack the officers, who responded by opening fire, killing Dutchess and inadvertently shooting Mr. Austin in the leg.

Mr. Austin, 23, was arrested on charges of menacing, assault, attempted assault and criminal possession of a weapon. “Namely,” the indictment reads, “a pit bull dog.”

The case, from August 2012, is a rare example of a New Yorker’s being arrested on a weapons possession charge, a misdemeanor, for a dog.