Residents of Collingwood, Ontario, were horrified Monday night when they witnessed a police cruiser run over what appeared to be a coyote three times before shooting it.
"I can’t believe the copper hit it with his car. Like, why would you do that?" a woman can be heard saying in one of three videos posted to Facebook by Sarah Leggett.
An animal can be seen walking across the road in the grainy footage, shot between 10 and 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 19.
The cruiser then ran over it a second time and then, as the animal continued to limp down the road, they hit it a third time.
"Look he’s hitting it again! Oh my God, he just ran the coyote over!" the woman can be heard shouting.
In the final video, the cops are out of their cruiser. "Oh my god, he’s going to shoot it. The cop is shooting the coyote," the woman says, moments before a gun goes off.
According to a neighbour who spoke with CTV News, the officers did not make any attempts to capture the animal before running it over.
The Ontario Provincial Police had gone to the area after reports of a potentially dangerous animal. Although it was presumed to be a coyote, the OPP later confirmed that it was a dog.
#OPP is aware that the animal that the officers were called to was in fact a dog, owner has been contacted. #OPP continues to investigate.
The dog, Merrick, was a 21-year-old deaf German Shepard and Australian cattle dog mix, according to her distraught owners.
Karen Sutherland shows a picture of her dog Merrick, the animal struck and killed by an OPP officer @CityNews
Karen Sutherland told City News that Merrick was old and feeble, but an "awesome" pet.
“I thought I had at least another year out of her before I would put her down in a nice way, without her dying that way," she told City News.
The OPP told the Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin that residents said the dog had been aggressive and potentially rabid, which is why they put it down.
"I'm sure when people realize the condition of the animal, they will understand why we did what we did," OPP Constable Mark Kinney told the Enterprise Bulletin.