Woman says Benbrook police officer who shot dog could’ve killed her daughter
A Benbrook woman says a police officer, who was conducting a check at a home and fired his gun at a dog, could have killed her daughter.
The Benbrook Police Department said that it received a call at around 6:40 a.m. Tuesday from a man who was out of town. The man told police that his security system had recorded someone “snooping” around his home at around 2 a.m.
The man also said he saw someone in his driveway, and his motion detector set off his security light, according to police.
According to what the homeowner told police on the call, when the security light came on, the man who was seen in his driveway ran away.
An officer was sent to the home and ran a check on the license plate of the car in the driveway. The license plate did not match the homeowner’s information or address, according to police. The officer found that the license of the car was connected to a residence in Haltom City.
The officer went to the back yard of the man’s house, which is routine for police when searching the perimeter of a home to make sure it was not broken into, the police department told the Star-Telegram.
The back door was open by about a foot, the responding officer reported. The officer called for backup and was waiting with a gun drawn, “thinking that someone may have broken into the house,” police said.
A woman — who police later discovered was the girlfriend of the homeowner — came to the door. The girlfriend’s dog, a German shepherd, also came out, according to police
The officer was yelling at the dog, according to police.. The officer fired his gun as the dog came “hard and fast” toward him, police said.
Cristy Moya, the mother of the girlfriend, wrote in a Facebook post that her daughter — identified in the post as Andrea Escobar — was in “her own home” and that she saw a police car parked out front but didn’t see anyone so she went out the back door and “the cop started shooting” at her and her dog.
“The officer was simply trying to protect himself from the dog,” Benbrook Chief of Police David Babcock told the Star-Telegram.
Police could not confirm if Escobar lives in the same home as the man who made the report, but said she was there with the homeowner’s permission.
Escobar’s dog was seriously injured in the shooting, according to her mother.
“Shot Max the German Shepard 5 TIMES!!!,” Moya wrote in the post. “Andrea didn’t get shot but was thrown on the ground and handcuffed.”
Police told the Star-Telegram that Escobar was handcuffed so police could conduct a check on the house and make sure she had not broken in, but said the officer did not throw her on the ground.
Moya also said in the post: “This officer has to be charged with attempted murder. Andrea could have been killed today.”
“We told the family today that we are handling the vet bills. We’re trying to do everything we can to make this right,” Babcock said.
The dog was treated for his injuries by an emergency veterinarian.
Officers were not aware that Escobar was inside the home at the time of the call, according to police. Her presence was not mentioned by the homeowner when he called police about someone “snooping” in his driveway, police said.
The Benbrook Police Department is conducting an Internal Affairs Investigation. The officer who responded to the home is not on administrative leave.
This story was originally published May 9, 2023 at 8:56 PM.
