BROOKFIELD Woman seeks apology from cop who killed dog

If the dog warden had shown up, things might have been different, the police chief said.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
BROOKFIELD -- A Brookfield woman wants an apology from the police officer who destroyed one of her pets.
Police Chief Dan Faustino said Monday that he and Lt. James Baker are sorry that Baker shot and killed Tammy Carano's dog Sunny but that the officer was doing his job.
"She wants him to say he was wrong," Faustino said, noting that Baker fired because he thought the dog may have been rabid.
If the dog warden had responded, Faustino said, "it may have turned out differently."
Sunny, a registered collie, was one of four dogs at the Carano family's Merwin-Chase Road home.
Dogs escaped: Mrs. Carano, 36, said she was at work when her husband, Joe, and their daughter, Tara Joe, got home about 5 p.m. and found that Sunny and Bonnie, a springer spaniel, had gotten out of the house.
The dogs went to the home of Frank Murcko, about 11/2 miles away. Murcko, according to Baker's report, rounded up the dogs in his barn and called 911 shortly before 4:30 p.m.
Baker reported that because the dog warden doesn't usually respond to calls outside business hours, he and Murcko agreed to let the dogs go. Faustino said the dog warden's office might respond during nonbusiness hours if a dog bite is reported.
Called back: The dogs ran off, but about an hour later, Baker was called back to Murcko's.
He said that though Bonnie had gone home, Sunny was at Murcko's, foaming at the mouth and growling. He was told the dog "went after" Murcko's granddaughter.
Tim Morgan, a deputy dog warden contacted by 911, told the dispatcher to tell Baker to destroy the dogs, put them into bags and into the garbage.
Morgan was not the warden designated to respond to emergency calls. Jim Shamrock, another deputy warden, was on call, but didn't answer his telephone, the 911 report noted.
"I want an apology," Carano said. "If this is the way things are handled, changes need to be made."
Dog not sick: She said the dogs had collars, though their licenses weren't attached, and Sunny wasn't sick. She said the dog was salivating from thirst and fright.
Carano said she thinks that if the warden's office had responded, it could have been determined that her dog wasn't ill.
The warden's office responds only during business hours Monday through Friday, if things aren't busy, and not on weekends, Faustino said.
Dog warden Robert Campana did not respond to a message left for him seeking comment.