By Alyssa Guzman | New York Post
An Ohio community is calling for the termination of a police officer who fatally shot a loose golden retriever in front of the pup’s horrified family.
Elliott Palmer, of the Lorain Police Department, near Cleveland, was caught on his own bodycam footage shooting 3-and-a-half-year-old Dixie dead after she approached him on Sunday.
Palmer has since been placed on leave, WKYC reported Friday.
The incident is “under investigation,” the department told The Post Friday afternoon without offering further details.
A “Justice for Dixie” rally was held outside the department before WKYC confirmed Palmer’s leave.
Lt. Jacob Morris offered condolences to Dixie’s family during the rally.
“Regardless of the situation, they’re dealing with the loss of a family member,” he said. “It hurts to even say that we were involved in that, but with that being said, we can offer our condolences — and we certainly, certainly do.
“I’ve spoken to the family and (am) trying to be a resource for them as the investigative process rolls out.”
Palmer was patrolling the area Sunday when he noticed several large dogs running around and told the owner, Tammie Kern, to get them under control, WKYC previously reported.
While Kern’s daughter was attempting to round up the four dogs, Dixie got away and playfully ran toward Palmer, who shot her several times.
The shocking incident was caught on the officer’s bodycam.
Footage shows Palmer standing in the street outside Kern’s Oberlin Avenue home as a different golden retriever playfully runs up to him. The officer sticks his hand out to wave the animal away.
Moments later, Dixie followed suit, appearing to calmly run up to Palmer before he raised his gun and shot her.
Dixie scrambled to get away before her front legs gave out, and she fell face-first in the middle of the street. The young dog managed to get herself to safety by dragging her back legs across the ground until she reached the curb, where she helplessly lay half on the sidewalk.
“You stupid, f–k, you killed my dog,” Kern could be heard telling the officer. “Why did you do it?”
“Get back, OK. Your dog charged me, get back,” an annoyed-sounding Palmer ordered.
“That dog was harmless!” Kern screamed as she stood next to where Dixie lay dying.
Palmer called for backup as more people poured out of the home, demanding to know what happened to the dog, the footage showed.
At one point, Kern can be heard screaming in grief on the ground while another person tries to comfort her as a helpless Dixie lay a few feet away.
“She wasn’t even going at you, she was going across the street,” Kern screamed.”I hope you lose your f–king job.”
Kern told WKYC that after the initial shot was fired, Palmer “should have just let it go and let us get the dog and take her where she needed to be treated.
”But he didn’t do that. She was crawling — useless, helpless — in the street. He continued shooting her. She was trying to come to safety, and he just kept shooting her three more times after the first time.”
Kern said Palmer should “lose his job.”
“He should go to jail. He should rot. I don’t want him to shoot somebody else. He needs to be off the streets. There were innocent bystanders nearby,” she said.
Since the tragic shooting, local communities have come forward to demand Palmer be released from his duties and fired from the department.
A MoveOn.org petition and the hashtag #JusticeforDixie have taken off in support of the family, with the petition saying: “The dog was not aggressive nor was she doing anything to warrant such a horrendous act of violence. This is not the type of policing our city needs nor wants. We demand answers and resolution and justice for Dixie and her family.”
Others took to social media to brand Palmer a “coward” and demand his badge be taken away, while others bashed him for reportedly saying he was afraid when Dixie came toward him.
“Claims he was afraid for his life! But had his hand out calling the first dog to him, then poor Dixie probably thought: ‘Oh hey, this is a nice guy, I’m gonna go say hi.’ Poor baby had no clue she was gonna be shot dead,’ Kristine Duffin wrote in a Lorain, Ohio, Facebook group.
The Lorain Police Department released a statement on Monday, confirming Palmer had “used force” on Dixie and said the incident was under investigation.
“While all the facts are not yet known, the investigation has been assigned to the Lorain Police Department’s Office of Professional Standards to conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances that led to the use of force,” the statement read.
Kern and her family plan on filing a lawsuit against the police department, WKYC reported.