Dogs love to ride.  When they don’t, there is something terribly wrong. I submit to you there is a reason why Zuul, the K-9, wouldn’t go into the police vehicle: he knows bad things happen to him in there.

This wasn’t the first time he encountered the wrath of this police officer. That dog isn’t stupid.

What do you think happens when he is alone with him in the car? Just this time it happened in public and was caught on video.

A K-9 is an officer who was assaulted by, of all things, his partner, a police officer!

The name of this officer needs to be made public, he needs to be fired and he needs to be prosecuted for assaulting a K-9.

Clearly, this guy has anger problems and should never have been in charge of a K-9; moreover, he is not fit to be a police officer, period.

In whose hands is this K-9 now?  There needs to be an external board that evaluates an officer’s disposition to work with a K-9, and that means that they treat that dog as a valued partner.

But there is a much bigger problem in the Salisbury Police Department.  The chief of police sets the standard for the department. When he justified that treatment of Zuul, he condoned animal cruelty and abuse.

Then he trots out Zuul and pronounces him healthy, as if bruises don’t matter. There are not only physical injuries, but also psychological damage.

The chief is not fit to be a police officer, much less lead the department.   

I have not heard one word from the mayor.

There needs to be an independent investigation of this police department.

A number of years ago a German shepherd, a K-9, died of heat stroke in a Salisbury police officer’s backyard.  It was negligence that killed that dog.  There were no ramifications. They just go out and buy another dog.

— Christel Voelske

Salisbury