Depends on the situation. If the dog was in the proximity of a felon he was trying to arrest, or on a property where the department was conducting a raid, killing the dogs is SOP.
But if he was doing a check-in, or something else of little critical importance, then he will be charged with unlawful discharge, possibly an animal cruelty charge, and he'd be vulnerable to a civil suit.
The pitbull "attacked" him. The dog is literally called Precious and she looks sweet as hell and the owner said she was just barking when she walked up to him and I believe that, sucks if she was hurt just because of the rep Pitbulls have
Well..... the dog was in a fenced yard. The homeowners had the dog contained and controlled. The officer was in the wrong. Period. At what point are we no longer allowed to protect our homes and property from entry?
If they were a criminal dangerous enough to justify extreme force, then killing dogs is completely justified. Otherwise, the officer has no right to be on your property, and them coming anyways without probable cause makes them guilty of trespassing, and any other crimes committed on the property, also liable to civil suit.
While there is a practical line where law officers must be allowed to protect themselves (they are public servants but also just people with families and lives too...) we must be careful with dangerous thinking. If an officer is there they may or may not be a criminal. If they aren't a known violent criminal already, whatever the officer is there for even if to arrest they are a suspected criminal until proven otherwise in a court of law. At that point they are just a citizen, and we can't let officers treat citizens as criminals. More over this dog wasn't even the suspects. It was a neighbors. That's two degrees of separation, assumed a criminal because you live near someone suspected of being a criminal. As for trespass- a police officer may go anywhere the general public is allowed with or without probable cause. They cannot enter secured private property without a warrant or suspect of imminent threat. If the yard is accessible to the public they can enter.
But if he was doing a check-in, or something else of little critical importance, then he will be charged with unlawful discharge, possibly an animal cruelty charge, and he'd be vulnerable to a civil suit.
http://filmingcops.com/cop-tries-to-shoot-dog-ends-up-shooting-himself/
and
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHsIwQkAJxw