A veteran is speaking out after a Jacksonville officer shot her dog. While Jaimie Phillips said she got hit with a bullet too, she’s more worried for her dog.
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“I called the cops because that was the safe thing to do and my dog got shot,” Phillips said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said the dog lunged at the officer prompting the officer to shoot.
“he behaves because he is a trained Wounded Warrior veteran dog,” Phillips said.
Phillips and her German Shepherd, Milo, served in the Marine Corps together. After she got hurt and got PTSD, the Wounded Warrior Project trained her dog to be a service animal.
Friday afternoon, she, Miler, and her 4-year-old daughter went to the railroad tracks near College St in Riverside to look for some missing items, after her husband’s car was burglarized over the weekend.
Phillips said a random lady came up to her and accused her of trying to steal her bike.
“She came up and pushed me and so I made space between us and pushed her back,” Phillips said. “I did tell her that I had a weapon on me that I did not want to use and from there she said, ‘call the cops, call the cops.’”
So, Phillips did. JSO officers responded and detained the other lady.
Chief of Investigations Alan Parker said when the officer was about to detain Phillips as well, things escalated.
“The dog lunges at the officer and bites him in his left leg,” Parker said.
But Phillips said she begged the officer to let her tie her dog up first.
“I had my leash up in the air with my dog, he wasn’t moving he was sitting by my side,” Phillips said. “The officer was screaming at me, and I kept trying to reason with the officer to please let me tie my dog up.”
After the bite, the officer shot Milo three times in the neck and back.
Phillips said she was shot in the leg too, and that bullet is still inside her tonight.
“I have shrapnel here, they closed it all up and everything,” Phillips said. “That’s where the bullet is. And I have shrapnel back here from it.”
Phillips said she feels unsafe in her community.
“I called the cops because that was the safe thing to do and my dog gets shot,” Phillips said.
Milo is stable but she said she hasn’t gotten an update from the doctors since this afternoon.
Her dog is currently getting care at Animal Care and Protective Services.
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