Angel Clark | Wilmington Civil Rights Examiner
Jessica Cabrera is a pregnant mother in Sun Valley, California.
Two weeks ago her front yard gate was somehow left open, and her dogs got out.
The dogs, being dogs, enjoyed the freedom of not being “gated” but quickly came back to their home. Cabrera’s 4-year-old mixed Pit bull Drake, probably should have stayed away.
Drake was shot in the head by the LAPD before his owners even knew the gate was open.
A neighbor must have called the police about the dogs being outside. The LAPD never attempted to contact Cabrera, who was right inside the house watching her 16-month-old daughter.
According to the police, when they found the dogs on Cabrera’s property, one of the dogs “ran away” from the approaching LAPD.
Drake, who had been playing with Cabrera’s daughter since she was an infant, “walked” towards the police.
There was no mention of Drake acting aggressively, barking, or even growling, just “walking”.
The “walking” was apparently too much for the two officers, and one of them shot Drake in the eye, most likely expecting the dog to be killed.
Edwin Ayala, Cabrera’s husband, was just coming home from work. He pulled into his driveway to the sound of gunshots and saw two police officers in the back driveway. “He was three seconds too late,” Cabrera told the Examiner.
Cabrera rushed Drake to the veterinarian, and they were able to save his life, at a cost.
Cabrera described the wounds on GoFundMe, a crowdsourcing website she’s using to try to pay the thousands of dollars it will cost to keep Drake alive.
“Our dog has suffered severe trauma to his head and eye, and will now be disabled for the remainder of his life.
The vet had to remove his eye, which was completely ruptured, he has brain damage and shattered bones all in his face. His nasal cavity has also been destroyed.
The vet could not believe the damage that this all did, she said if it happened to a human we would be dead because the impact was so hard it destroyed all the muscles and nerves in his face.”
Cabrera does not understand why the LAPD didn’t approach the situation differently.
The two officers never knocked on her door, or let her know they were there. “They could have approached him in a friendly manner,” she explained. “They didn’t have to shoot him.”
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