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Why isn’t police officer responsible for his dog’s fatal actions?

Mourners came out in the rain Dec. 23 to attend a vigil in memory of David Fear, a Grover Beach man who suffered fatal injuries while trying to rescue his neighbor from a dog attack on Dec. 13. The sidewalk vigil was held on Nacimiento Avenue where Fear lived.
Mourners came out in the rain Dec. 23 to attend a vigil in memory of David Fear, a Grover Beach man who suffered fatal injuries while trying to rescue his neighbor from a dog attack on Dec. 13. The sidewalk vigil was held on Nacimiento Avenue where Fear lived. Kaytlyn Leslie kleslie@thetribunenews.com

An attack-trained dog kills a human being, and the owner is not under indictment for manslaughter (“Dog in fatal Grover Beach attack was a trained police K-9, chief says,” Jan. 4). How different would it have been if the owner wasn’t a police officer? Perhaps negligent homicide would be a better term.

Chuck Maly, Los Osos

This story was originally published January 8, 2017 at 6:50 PM with the headline "Why isn’t police officer responsible for his dog’s fatal actions?."

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