LA MARQUE — Sheriff’s office investigators returned Thursday to the street where a woman was wounded when a La Marque police officer shot a dog suspected of attacking people.
Meanwhile, because of the investigation into the shooting, La Marque is down another patrol officer, prompting the city manager to consider asking two county law enforcement agencies to help patrol the city’s streets.
Galveston County Sheriff Capt. Barry Cook said his investigators re-enacted the shooting that happened in the 2300 block of Fifth Avenue near Walnut. They also were looking for bullets that could not be found during the initial sweep of the shooting scene Wednesday night.
About 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, officer Sabrina Sanders reported seeing a dog attack three people as she drove by after responding to another call.
Sanders pulled her pistol and shot at the dog, and a projectile of some sort struck a woman who was near the animal, interim La Marque Police Chief Kirk Jackson said.
Cook said it appeared the bullet that went through the dog’s leg may have broken up or ricocheted off the ground causing a bullet fragment, a piece of concrete or possibly a piece of bone from the animal’s leg to strike a woman.
The injured woman was taken by air ambulance to Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston with a chest wound. The injury was considered minor, and she was released from the hospital Thursday.
Cook said doctors did not find a bullet in the woman’s wound, leading investigators to think the injury was caused by a fragment.
The officer’s account of what happened and those of some eyewitnesses differed.
The dog’s owner said his pet wasn’t attacking anyone and that the officer overreacted.
“Basically there was a little girl, or young lady, playing with the dog in the front yard,” Dennis Wallace said in an interview with KHOU-TV. “(The dog) does get excited, so she will knock you down. The young lady started hollering and just at that time, a police officer was coming down the road and thought the dog was attacking the lady.”
Sanders is on administrative leave during the investigation.
The Galveston County District Attorney’s Office, which is leading the investigation, said a grand jury would review the case.
Four La Marque officers are off patrol pending investigations.
Three officers have been on leave since May while the district attorney investigates the case of a man of who died after struggling with police and being shocked by a Taser.
With two more officers out on medical leave, the police department is down to 13 patrol officers.
City Manager Eric Gage recently requested a meeting with Texas City Police Chief Robert Burby about whether his department could help patrol parts of La Marque.
Gage said he also was considering asking Sheriff Freddie Poor for assistance.
Gage said he expected to meet with Poor and Burby next week.
