Vacaville police respond to video showing officer punching dog
(Graphic by Solano News Update)
The Vacaville Police Department has responded to a video captured this week that shows a police officer punching a dog.
The video was captured by a man on Monday near a warehouse near Vaca Valley Parkway. He said he was shocked to find a police officer repeatedly striking the dog and felt compelled to record the incident.
“I’m sure he saw me,” the man, Roberto Palomino, said in a Facebook post. “He stopped beating the dog when he saw me.”
Palomino said he was afraid to confront the officer over the incident.
“Screaming at an armed Vacaville police officer is something I wouldn’t suggest to [anyone],” Palomino said in response to a comment left on his page.
The video was sent to various Sacramento and Bay Area news outlets, including Solano News Update, and was quickly shared by hundreds of people on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets.
On Tuesday, a Vacaville police department spokesperson told a local television news reporter that the officer seen in the video was “correcting” the dog, who was training to be a police K-9. The agency said the dog lunged at the officer and nearly bit him during their training session.
Palomino said he is not convinced by their explanation.
“It was more than clear this is not training,” he wrote in an update on Facebook.
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