Former Louisiana police officer Brian Thierbach was sentenced to probation last week for shooting and killing a leashed black mixed labrador named Arzy while responding to a call at a local business in Sulphur.
Dash cam video, posted below, shows Arzy was wagging its tail prior to the shooting.
Thierbach, who resigned from the Sulphur Police Department a month after the April 2014 shooting, was responding to a trespassing call when he found Brandon Carpenter, Logan Laliberte and Arzy in the back of a box truck in the parking lot of a local newspaper.
Carpenter and Liliberte had been traveling by train across country with the dog and had ducked into the truck to take cover from a rain storm.
Dash camera video shows the officer remove the men from the truck and allowed Carpenter to tie the dog to the back bumper. After placing the two men in handcuffs, Thierbach is seen walking towards the dog, which is just out of view.
Neither the dog or the officer make a sound before a gun shot is heard. Thierbach claimed the dog, which never showed any signs of aggression, bit him on his shoe before he shot him.
Theirbach was sentenced by Judge David Ritchie, who had few words for the officer but strong words for Carpenter, the dog’s owner.
As reported by the Lake Charles American Press,
“Judge David Ritchie said he looked at the video of the shooting and reviewed witnesses’ depositions. He said Arzy went directly toward Thierbach.
“I have my own perspective on this,” said Ritchie, who noted he’d undergone military police training. “One of the things I recall is that when you get called to a scene, you never know what you’re going to encounter.”
Ritchie said the footage didn’t conclusively show whether Thierbach felt threatened, but that the dog kept putting his head up against Thierbach’s leg. He said an officer has to have a heightened sense of awareness and that Thierbach didn’t know if Carpenter and Laliberte were criminals.
“I didn’t hear Mr. Carpenter admit he’d done anything wrong,” Ritchie said. “Just because it was raining doesn’t mean he can trespass.” He said he was shocked at Carpenter’s lack of responsibility.
Ritchie said that looking at all of the circumstances, a no-contest plea to simple cruelty was fair. He said the case has caused financial hardship for Thierbach. “Maybe Mr. Carpenter can take some satisfaction in the fact that Thierbach has had hardship,” he said.
Carpenter says he would have liked to see Thierbach sentenced to anger management counseling and removal of his gun privileges.
“I don’t harbor any hate in my heart, and he has been punished and I’m ready to move forward,” he said. “It’s not the outcome I wanted, but I’m very glad I can move on. I would have wanted a felony conviction and that he should not wear a badge or carry a gun ever again.”
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