FILE -- Gary Branson poses for a portrait at the Animal Law Center in Wheat Ridge on Monday, December 3, 2012. Branson's dog, Chloe, a chocolate lab mix, was killed after being tazed, shot five times in Commerce City on Nov. 24. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)
BRIGHTON — An Adams County jury on Wednesday acquitted a Commerce City police officer charged with aggravated animal cruelty after he shot and killed a 3-year-old dog named Chloe.
The jury deliberated for about three hours before reaching their decision.
Closing arguments Wednesday morning left the jury's decision hinging on their interpretation of a five minute video taken by a 12-year-old boy who saw and captured the November shooting from his home across the street.
"I respect the jury's verdict," said District Attorney Dave Young in a written statement. "These are very difficult cases for prosecutors to handle. We presented all the evidence to the jury, including the video of the shooting, and the jury based its verdict on that."
Price, who wiped away tears and hugged fellow officers after the acquittal, did not want to comment. Price has been on paid leave since December and will be allowed to return to work.
The Nov. 24 incident started after a neighbor called police saying that an unknown dog was running through the neighborhood. Police tried to capture the dog with catchpoles and using a Taser before Price fatally shot the dog five times.
Prosecutors had argued that officers who testified in the trial that the dog was vicious and aggressive should not be trusted because the video doesn't support their reports.
But defense attorneys told the jury that a five-minute video can't be trusted as it is not able to show everything that happened during the close to 30 minutes that officers were on scene. Defense attorneys have also presented still shots from the video, which they say show the dog was moving toward the officers before the shooting.
"You should consider the testimony of people who were there," said defense attorney Donald Sisson.
Arica Bores who was using the catchpole is shown in the video with only one hand on the device, and said she had no control of the dog.
Prosecutor Corrine Magid raised questions about the process after the incident, where Bores was the one to submit a report written by Price after the incident, and where a sergeant did not write a report about the officer involved shooting.
"There needs to be a closer look. If we can't trust what they did after the incident, how could you trust what happened during the incident?"
Chloe's owner Gary Branson, who was out of town when the incident happened said the verdict saddened him.
"In my opinion he was guilty, but the jury saw it different and we have to live with that," Branson said
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372, yrobles@denverpost. com or twitter. com/yeseniarobles
via www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_24224440/jury-deliberating-case-commerce-city-officer-who-shot
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