Dog question

[Fran]

A friend of mine told me of a situation that happened In North Florida recently. A woman was walking her dog when three other unleashed dogs (pitbulls)attacked her dog while walking on the beach. The woman said she wished she had a gun to shoot the attacking dogs. My friend said that if she had shot the dogs she would have benn subjected to possible civil and criminal penalties. This does not seem to pass the common sense test. Is this correct?

 

[txyaloo]

In Texas you could be charged with disorderly conduct, or cruelty to animals, but acceptable defenses are defined. If you fear bodily injury, that is a defense to prosecution.

§ 42.01. DISORDERLY CONDUCT. (a) A person commits an
offense if he intentionally or knowingly:
(7) discharges a firearm in a public place other than a
public road or a sport shooting range, as defined by Section
250.001, Local Government Code;
It is a defense to prosecution for an offense under
Subsection (a)(7) or (9) that the person who discharged the firearm
had a reasonable fear of bodily injury to the person or to another
by a dangerous wild animal as defined by Section 822.101, Health and
Safety Code.

And:

42.09. Cruelty to Animals
(a) A person commits an offense if the person intentionally or knowingly5) kills, seriously injures, or administers poison to an animal, other than cattle, horses, sheep, swine, or goats, belonging to another without legal authority or the owner's effective consent;
(e) It is a defense to prosecution under Subsection (a)(5) that the animal was discovered on the person's property in the act of or immediately after injuring or killing the person's goats, sheep, cattle, horses, swine, or poultry and that the person killed or injured the animal at the time of this discovery.
(g) It is a defense to prosecution for an offense under this section that the person had a reasonable fear of bodily injury to the person or to another by a dangerous wild animal as defined by Section 822.101, Health and Safety Code

 

[TurdFerguson]

probably because she herself was not being attacked. but her dog was. if she was being attacked and shot them in defense out of fear for her life, i doubt anything would happen.

but thats just my assumptions

 

[Fran]

Thanks for your responses. I know I would fear for my life with attacking dogs a few feet away.

 

[FordSVTFan]

Your fear has to be reasonable. Reasonableness is determine by the objective "reasonable prudent person" standard." So, if you act in this situation your actions will be judged by the objective standard, not your own feeling of the situation.

 

[Fran]

Your fear has to be reasonable. Reasonableness is determine by the objective "reasonable prudent person" standard." So, if you act in this situation your actions will be judged by the objective standard, not your own feeling of the situation.

That does make sense. But it would suck to get judged by the monday morning quarterbacks who were not in the situation. I cant imagine what it must be like for a LEO to be constantly judged after the fact when the people doing the judging were not there to make to split second decision that was deemed necessary at the time.

 

[fiveohpoepoe]

Me personally and Im leo...if another dog were attacking mine,Id shoot,PERIOD.Civil penalties I dont think would be an issue,criminal possibly but there is a good defense.It would be worth it to pay a fine,then if possible find the owners of the other dog and sue them