AR-News: (OK -US) Tethered, Gentle golden retriever shot to death by "frightened" cop

[Snugglezzz at aol.com]

Officer shoots tethered family dog 
By LINDA MARTIN World Staff Writer 
6/8/2004 


Frightened cop's shots lead to Bixby family's pet's death 


BIXBY -- Kathy Bensinger doesn't want revenge against a Bixby police officer 
who shot her dog while checking her home's security system Saturday. 

She hopes, instead, maybe to save a life someday. 

Fluppy, Bensinger's 6-year-old golden retriever, was shot twice by Bixby 
Police Officer Cory Forister and later had to be euthanized. 

"I'm fearful this could happen to some one else," Bensinger said Monday. 
"Next time it could be a human life." 

In Bensinger's opinion, the officer acted irresponsibly by firing his weapon 
with children in the yard on the other side of the fence and across the 
street. 

The Police Department has not apologized, she said. 

Bensinger questioned the officer's professionalism, contending that he acted 
hastily. 

"All he had to do was back up four to five feet  

out of the dog's reach," she said. 

Bensinger said Fluppy was tethered to their neighbor's back fence with a long 
cable so that he could cross the yard to the patio. 

The Bensingers moved to the neighborhood six months ago but had yet to put up 
a fence on one side, she said. 

Shortly before noon Saturday, Forister responded to the Bensinger's alarm, 
police spokesman Lt. Paul Tryon said. 

Forister was just about to the patio when he and the dog saw each other, 
Tryon said. 

The dog started coming at Forister, who started backing up and telling the 
dog to get back, Tryon said. 

Forister fired three shots when the dog came within two to three feet of him, 
Tryon said. 

He said Forister saw a piece of broken pottery in the back yard, which led 
him to believe that an actual burglary had occurred. 

"We want to make sure (the Bensingers) do know we're sorry and the officer is 
sorry," Tryon said. 

"If we feel there's something that needs to be changed, modified or created 
because of this, it will be done." 

Bensinger said her neighbor "witnessed the whole thing. She asked the 
officer, 'Did you shoot their dog? What were you thinking?' " 

Forister reportedly responded, "I didn't want to get bit," Bensinger said. 

Fluppy, while large at 95 pounds, "has never even growled at anybody," she 
said. "I have workers in and out of my yard all the time, and there's never been 
a problem." 

The Bensingers were away from home Saturday when their home security system 
went off about 11:10 a.m., Bensinger said. 

About 11:45 a.m., the alarm company called with a message that something had 
happened at their house and that their dog had been shot, but no details were 
given, she said. 

Bensinger arrived home about 25 minutes later with her 12-year-old son Tyler, 
who became hysterical when he saw the dog, she said. 

Bensinger's husband took Fluppy to Woodland Animal Hospital South, she said, 
where the dog was euthanized. 













 
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