The identity of a Baltimore City police officer who pulled his gun on a dog at Annie’s Playground in March is being withheld by the Harford County Sheriff’s Office.
Patch filed a Public Information Act request for the officer’s identity, but was denied on grounds that the request was “an unwarranted invasion of privacy” and revealing the information could “endanger the life or physical safety of an individual.”
The officer, whose name is blacked out in the sheriff’s incident report, is listed as the victim on the police report. But no charges were filed against the woman whose dog approached the officer’s family. A Baltimore City Police Department spokesman said the officer was not disciplined internally.
Police initially said the officer did not pull his gun and that a report was not written. After inquiries from Patch, though, police released a written report that stated the man did pull his gun. A spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office said that both parties involved in the incident left the playground “cordially.”
Lisa Vecchioni, the woman who had the dog and is listed as a “suspect” on the report, said that was not the case. Her name was also blacked out, but she contacted Patch to complain about the incident.
“He pulled the gun out immediately, didn’t even give a chance to see if the dog was friendly or not,” Vecchioni told Patch on March 25. “He had a gun pointed at my dog, I had to cross between my dog and him with the gun pointed at my dog. … It was definitely pointed at me.”
The dog is listed as an 80-pound “pitbull mix” on the police report, but Vecchioni said it weighs about 40 pounds and is primarily a Labrador mix.
Sincere thanks to Patch editor Brad Gerick for granting Life With Dogs permission to republish content.
