Police who killed two out-of-control dogs and Tasered their owner cleared of wrongdoing

Armed cops who killed two mean dogs and Tasered their owner have been found not guilty.

The review by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) began on May 7, 2023, five days after the event in Poplar, east London.

Police officers from the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police were caught on camera killing Louie Turnbull’s dogs next to a river in Limehouse. The video went viral.

In the video, police were chasing a man with the dogs on short leashes. Things got worse before the man was tasered to the ground and the dogs were shot dead.

“There is no evidence of a crime”

The IOPC said on Friday that there was “no indication” that any officers had “behaved in a manner which would justify disciplinary action or had committed a criminal offense.”

“We looked at police body-worn video, CCTV footage, cell phone footage, the 999 call, radio transmissions, and statements from police witnesses, members of the public, and expert witnesses,” it said. The experts told us about police training, rules, laws, staffing, tools, taking dogs away, killing dogs, and what happens after killing a dog.

“We have asked both forces to look at the demand and supply of dog handlers and decide if they have enough resources right now.”

“The end of our investigation was in September.” Everyone involved has been told of our decision, and we will not be releasing any more details because we are worried about the safety of some of the people involved.

Police said they were called just after 5 p.m. to Commercial Road in east London to reports of a woman being attacked by a dog. She hurt her leg, but she didn’t need to go to the hospital.

After pleading guilty to having two seriously out of control dogs, Turnbull got a suspended sentence in November 2023. He got 14 weeks in prison, but the term was suspended for a year.

He was banned from owning dogs for 20 years at the time of the incident. The court order was put in place in November 2019 after a similar incident for which he also got a suspended sentence.

Repeatedly refused to comply

After the IOPC decision, Detective Chief Superintendent James Conway, who is in charge of police work in the area for the Met Police, said, “The IOPC investigation has been thorough, looking at all aspects of what happened that day and reviewing body-worn video, cell phone footage, CCTV footage of the incident as well as talking to experts on dangerous dogs.”

“The investigation found that the police had a very difficult situation and tried many times to get the owner of the vicious animals to give them up so that no one else would get hurt.”

When the owner refused to cooperate, the police officers showed great patience and bravery in their attempts to solve the problem. They only took further action when they had no other choice after the man let go of the dogs.

“Parts of the event were filmed and shared on social media, and we all know how upsetting that was.” We all don’t want any animal to get hurt, and that includes our police officers, who only did what they did to keep everyone safe.

“For the safety of the public, police officers will always put training ahead of anything else when it comes to dealing with dogs that are dangerously out of control.”