ELYRIA, Ohio — Elyria police released body camera video Wednesday that shows the moment an officer fatally shot a dog following the arrest of a suspect.
It all started last Friday, when authorities went to a home on Melvyn Lane. A Ring camera from the neighbor next door captured the moment officers had come there for: the arrest of 21-year-old Dante Colbert for a separate 2023 shooting.
That footage shows a pizza being delivered to Colbert's door before police rush the scene to execute the warrant. Colbert is currently charged with felonious assault.
But it was shortly thereafter that the dog — a 1-year-old American pit bull named Coco — entered the picture. While the original bodycam video had no audio, 3News was able to sync it with the Ring camera in order to get the accurate sound effects.
Coco can be heard barking before running out of a neighboring house, in the direction of the officer in question. Then, two gunshots are fired.
You can watch that exact moment in the player below (NOTE: Video does not have sounds and WKYC stopped the footage right before the officer fired his weapon):
Coco eventually died from her injuries, and police later claimed the animal had "aggressively charged at an officer on the scene, prompting the officer to draw and discharge their service weapon to protect himself, other officers and civilians in the area from the aggressive animal." However, Coco's owner Stephanie Pannell claimed the door had only been cracked open when she and others went out to see what was happening, and that the dog was "playful" and merely running out "like any normal dog."
"The cops are trained to use special force," Pannell told 3News following the incident. "Why didn't they use a different force? Why do you immediately pull for your gun?"
Pannell had expressed a desire for the bodycam video to be released, and it was five days later. In the Ring footage, the officers can be heard saying, "The dog charged the officer."
WKYC reached out to Elyria PD for further comment today, but they were unavailable to talk. The matter remains under investigation.