Rally demands 'justice' for dog shot by Lorain police officer (Updated)

LORAIN — More than two dozen people gathered in front of Lorain City Hall on Friday, demanding "justice" for a family's dog. Less than a week after Officer Elliott Palmer shot and killed a dog on Oberlin Avenue and West Eighth Street, supporters of the dog's family held signs along West Erie Avenue and demanded his removal from the force. On Sunday, Palmer was patrolling near West Eighth Street and Oberlin Avenue when he saw several large, yellow dogs running in multiple yards and a woman attempting to control two of them, holding them both by their tails, according to the incident report. In body camera footage released Wednesday, there are three dogs visible in the footage, including a dog that comes up to Palmer just as the video starts before running into a neighboring yard. Within the first 30 seconds of arriving, one of the dogs, named Dixie, gets away from the woman holding her and runs toward Palmer. Palmer's body camera footage shows Dixie running toward him, and as Palmer backs up, the dog curves away from him and into the street. In the footage, Palmer shoots the dog when she is in the middle of the road, running away from him. Dixie died in a neighbor's driveway. She was a 3-year-old yellow Labrador retriever mix. On Friday morning, Tammie Kerns, Dixie's owner, and Kerns' daughter, Brittany Kaspirek, were left in tears by the support they'd received since Dixie's death, Kaspirek said. Kaspirek said Palmer was "more of a menace" to the neighborhood than her mother's dog was, and that he didn't have a right to shoot her. In Palmer's report, and in his body camera footage, he states Dixie charged at him. In his report, he wrote he feared for his immediate safety and shot the dog to stop the threat. Kaspirek said her family is not looking for money from the city from a lawsuit, they want to make sure another family doesn't lose a pet like they did. Kerns said the support they'd received was amazing, and that she and her family want to see justice for their dog. She said Dixie's mother, Nora, has not been the same since Dixie's death and has been moping around the house looking for her. "She knows something bad happened," Kerns said. Against a backdrop of chants of "All paws matter" and "Palmer's got to go," attendees held up handmade signs decrying Dixie's death and waved to honking cars — including one Mercury Grand Marquis that circled the block with a dog in its back seat, honking continuously to show support. John Tyler, of Parma, brought his two golden retrievers, Cooper and Molly, to Friday's rally after hearing about the shooting on the morning news. "I obviously got upset because I've got two goldens myself and they're the most loyal, sweetest dogs," he said. "They're not going to hurt anything except maybe a fly." Lorain Police Lt. Jacob Morris said the department offers its condolences to the Kerns family, as regardless of the department's involvement in the incident, losing a pet is like losing a member of the family. "This is not about us," Morris told the crowd. "It's about Dixie. Our thoughts and prayers go out (to the family)." The incident remains under investigation and Palmer is on administrative leave, Morris said. Protest organizer Michael Smeck said he didn't know Dixie's family before the incident, but saw it in the news and on social media. Smeck was an on-the-ground organizer when animal rights activists worked to get Nitro's Law passed in 2013. Nitro's Law made knowingly committing certain acts of cruelty by a dog kennel owner, manager or employee a fifth-degree felony and was a precursor to 2016's Goddard's Law, he said. He said it's been about a decade since he was an active organizer, but when activists were pushing for Nitro's Law he organized 30 to 40 courthouse rallies across the state — and pledged to hold the same rallies outside courts in Lorain County if Palmer is charged with anything. Safety/Service Director Sanford Washington released a statement Friday morning that the administration "will allow the investigation to be completed and all appropriate laws followed in the review of this incident," and declined to comment further. A petition calling for Palmer's removal from the police force had more than 15,000 signatures Friday afternoon. A vigil is planned for Dixie at West Eighth Street and Oberlin Avenue at noon Sunday. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.