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Police appeal fails in fatal shooting of Jackson pit bull

Posted at 10:51 AM, Sep 18, 2019
and last updated 2019-09-18 10:51:23-04

JACKSON, Mich. — An appeals court says a lawsuit can proceed against police in the fatal shooting of a pit bull inside a Jackson home.

A Jackson officer walked through the front door without knocking and encountered a dog named Kane. The dog dashed down stairs and growled before it was shot in 2014.

There's no dispute that Officer Matthew Peters didn't have a warrant to enter the home. He had a court order to find a man who needed medication, but that person didn't even live at the address.

Peters says he reasonably believed he had entered a common area in the building, not an apartment. But that argument was rejected Tuesday by a federal appeals court.

The court says a jury can decide if a growling dog was an imminent threat.

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