Dori Monson praises officer: ‘Most cops would have shot that dog’

It’s what the police officer didn’t do that is earning him widespread praise, and KIRO Radio’s Dori Monson is among those crediting the cop with properly handling two vicious dogs.

“It is a remarkable bit of police work,” Dori said.

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Officer David Gomez is a school resource officer in Meridian, Idaho. Gomez encountered two dogs on the loose one evening and the pair weren’t friendly. In fact, they were highly confrontational, barking, and foaming at the mouth. One dog even lunged at the officer a couple of times.

“I have seen over the years, so many stories,” Dori said. “We’ve had at least a dozen stories of cops shooting dogs for 10 times less. And this cop was so cool.”

“I think most cops would have shot that dog because it takes a lunge at him,” he said. “And he just stands there.”

It is another chapter in an ongoing conversation about the best procedure when officers encounter dogs, especially ones behaving territorial and protective of their homes. The Internet has plenty of videos of officers shooting dogs that are not friendly.

Officer Gomez, on the other hand, talked to the “puppies” as they barked at him, and gave them orders. It took a few minutes, but he was able to talk them into the back of his patrol car. He did use pepper spray on one dog, however, which Dori notes — the dogs were acting rather vicious after all.

“It turns out this cop went to a training seminar on how to deal with dangerous dogs in a non-lethal way — you talk to them in that tone of voice, you stand strong against them, you don’t step back when they lunge at you,” Dori said. “He did have out his baton and he did have his pepper spray.”

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