Cop Shoots Dog In Front of Owner

It was a vicious pit bull, of course. Aren't they all?

Two days after she watched a Bettendorf police officer shoot and kill her dog, Sheila Williams said she still couldn't believe it.

"He wasn't a ferocious dog," she said of her border collie/pit bull mix, Tank. "He never bit anyone. He was only a year-and-a-half old. He probably thought the police officer was playing with him."

But Police Chief Phil Redington described a different scenario Monday, saying the dog attacked the officer, and deadly force was an appropriate response. Not only was the officer at risk, he said, but the neighborhood where the shooting occurred is full of children who also could have been attacked.