DOUGLAS MAN ARRESTED IN DRUG DOG DEATH

DOUGLAS - A warrant was issued Thursday afternoon for the arrest of a
Douglas man who allegedly shot the Police Department's drug dog. Douglas
Police Chief Sam Decker said the man, who was around 60 years old, would be
charged with cruelty to animals, a Class A misdemeanor. Decker said the dog
was shot around 8 p.m. Tuesday on Irvin Road, where the dog was housed and
where the man who shot the dog lives. Decker declined to say how the
incident occurred. "I don't want to jeopardize the case in court," he said.
The man was charged with a misdemeanor because the dog was not on the job
at the time of the shooting. If Cocoa had been working, the man could have
been charged with a felony. Six-year-old Cocoa, a chocolate Labrador
retriever, had been raised and trained by one of the department's officers,
Lt. Ray Grissett. Cocoa had been with the Police Department for about a
year, Decker said. The value of the dog and its training are estimated at
$6,000, but the loss was not only financial. "Cocoa was the department's
pet," Decker said. The department will get another drug dog, but Decker
said he doesn't know when that will happen.