Redmond police officer shocks dog with Taser

Redmond police responded to a call about two aggressive dogs on the loose and ended up using a Taser to subdue one of them.

A neighbor captured a cellphone video of the incident. It starts with Redmond police trying to corral the dog, whose name is Ra’Zac.

He escaped with the other family dog, named Chaos, from a yard down the street from where the video was taken Sunday evening.

The two dogs went several houses down to Obsidian Avenue, where police say another dog broke out of its house through a window screen.

Witnesses said the three dogs got into a fight on the lawn, and police dispatcher received four different calls about it — one saying that two pit bulls were killing another dog.

Officers responded and quickly took Chaos into custody. But Ra’Zac was tougher to catch, and when he started moving away from police, an officer used a Taser on him.

Police said Monday it was a precautionary move.

“Fearing that this dog might get away and attack another animal or a person — which is the last thing we want to have happen — the officer used the Taser to stop the dog from fleeing,” Lt. Curtis Chambers said.

But Ra’Zac did get away, and eventually returned home and is okay. But the owners, who didn’t want us to use their last names, said they didn’t think the Taser was necessary.

“To see that somebody would take him as a threat is very hard for me to believe,” said Meagan, one of his owners. “To take that extreme caution — what they did — it was just too much.”

And the family said it was surprised to hear reports of such aggressive behavior from Ra’Zac.

“He’s the baby of the group. He’s kind of the wuss,” said Chris, another owner. “He doesn’t like to get involved. He likes people. He likes to be pet. He likes to be loved.”

Police said they want to make sure it’s understood that Ra’Zac’s breed had nothing to do with the way they responded in the incident.

“Any dog has the potential of being an aggressive dog,” Chambers said. “Not just pit bulls in particular.”

These kinds of calls aren’t uncommon in Redmond. Animal control-related calls are one of the five most common calls the police department receives.

But it’s rare for an officer to use a Taser on an animal.

Redmond police said they have a specialized animal control division that doesn’t work on weekends. All officers, though, are trained to handle animals.