THE THIN BLUE LINE
Get Back Loraine
Owner Tammie Kerns tells 3News four of her dogs got loose early Sunday afternoon and she and her daughter were trying to gather them. She says a Lorain officer pulled up to their home on Oberlin Avenue near 8th Street, got out of his vehicle, and told them to get their dogs under control.
During the commotion, their Labrador retriever named Dixie ran out into the street, with Tammie alleging the officer tried to get her to come to him first. The Kernses told WKYC the officer shot the dog multiple times and that Dixie died at the scene.
“After she was shot one time in the street, he should have just let it go and let us get the dog and take her where she needed to be treated,” Tammie said, in tears. “But he didn’t do that. She was crawling — useless, helpless — in the street. He continued shooting her. She was trying to come to safety, and he just kept shooting her three more times after the first time.”
A woman can be seen trying to hold onto two other dogs by their tails, and one of the dogs gets away from her as Palmer is walking up.
The dog that got away runs toward Palmer. He backs up and the dog curves away from him toward the street. Officer Palmer shoots the dog, when she is in the middle of the road, running away from him.
In the video, Dixie gets up and drags her hind legs until she is at the end of a neighbor’s driveway. After officer Palmer shoots Dixie, he yells at anyone, and everyone to “GET BACK”. No one was allowed to comfort the dying dog.
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Dog Owner Tammie Kerns said “He should lose his job,” she said. “He should go to jail. He should rot. I don’t want him to shoot somebody else. He needs to be off the streets. There were innocent bystanders nearby.”
A peaceful protest rally has been scheduled July 7 at the Lorain Municipal Court by the “Justice for Dixie” Concerned Citizens to “show our support for the family of Dixie and express our request for the immediate removal of Officer Elliot Palmer from the Lorain Police Department.”
A petition calling for “Justice for Dixie” had more than 3,000 signatures as of Wednesday evening.
Dog shooter Palmer is still on the job.
Loraine is about a 45 minute drive from Cleveland on what they call the Western route.
