Owner of Pit Bull Shot by Cops Ready to Sue Rochester

For the first time we’re hearing from the owner of a pit bull shot and killed by a Rochester police officer. Now, she’s threatening to take legal action against the City of Rochester.

The pit bull was shot last weekend in Greece. Rochester Police say they were responding to a home on Cragg Road to arrest the dog’s owner Jennifer Girolamo.

In a statement, police say the pit bull got dangerously close to an officer who fell in the snow, so he fired his gun. Girolamo’s attorney says one officer had propped the family’s door open allowing the dog to run outside.

Why didn’t she put the dog away when the police came to the door? The devil is really in the details with this case, but the Rochester Police Department and the city are only giving us vague information about what happened and now the pit bull’s owner is insisting the officer who shot the dog was out of line.

Officers shot Zeke last week while they were at her home to arrest her on charges of stealing money. Now she and her attorney are going after the city.

Attorney John Parrinello says, “I think the conduct of the police was outrageous. I think it was outrageous and I think that they never thought of a non-lethal way of dealing with Zeke.”

Girolamo says it all happened in under a minute. She says she was watching a movie when her three dogs started barking. She tells us she heard a faint knock on the door and police didn’t identify themselves. She opened the inside door and didn’t expect anyone to have the outside glass door opened.

“The first thing I noticed was an officer standing there,” says Girilamo. “The second thing I noticed perhaps — I noticed it too late — was my door is ajar.”

She says Zeke ran out, one officer fell and says he shot Zeke because the dog ran toward him and he felt threatened.

“I announced, ‘he’s friendly, he doesn’t bite,'” says Girilamo. “As soon as I said those words, I heard two gunshots and then we heard an eerie silence that I will never forget.”

But the Rochester Police Department won’t comment so we went to the city attorney.

“I’m not sure I know exactly what case you’re taking about because we have not received a claim at this point,” says T. Andrew Brown for the city. “But on the assumption that a claim is on its way, I obviously am not at liberty to talk about the legal aspects of it.”

Girilamo says she wants justice for her dog. She tells us, “This cannot be swept under the rug, the killing of an innocent animal.”

The attorney says him and his client won’t be satisfied with reimbursement because this caused such emotional distress. It’s really an intricate and kind of slow legal process from here on out. There has to be a small hearing — an attempt to settle it out of court.