Zurich police shoot charging dog, then overpower its 47-year-old owner with a Taser

The stop and the shooting

Officers of the Stadtpolizei Zürich were checking a man on Schaffhauserstrasse in Kreis 11 shortly before 3am on Friday, 6 November, when a large dog rushed at them. The officers opened fire to ward off the attack, leaving the Presa Canario, which weighed about 60 kilograms, badly wounded on the pavement. The police described the moment in their press release:

“Suddenly a large dog ran at the police barking, snarling and baring its teeth, whereupon they shot at the roughly 60-kilogram dog, which then remained lying on the ground.”

The owner's attack and arrest

According to the police, the 47-year-old owner then attacked one of the officers and tried to wrest his service weapon away. The officer prevented that and created some distance, then holstered the weapon and switched to a less lethal tool, a device the police call a destabilisation device, which is a Taser. He used it against the man, who kept striking the officer. The man was then overpowered, arrested and taken to a police station. The officers were not injured.

The dog's death and the investigation

The injured dog was taken to the animal hospital straight away, but it died shortly after arriving there. Specialists from the Forensic Institute Zurich were called to the scene to secure evidence. The further investigation is now being carried out by the Stadtpolizei Zürich under the direction of the responsible public prosecutor's office. The police have not yet said what charges, if any, the owner will face.