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Ocoee family cries foul after dog's alleged shooting by officer left out of police report

OCOEE, Fla. — On July 17, Ocoee resident Charlie Brooks said he was following his two dogs out the door when he watched as one, Duke, approached a police officer.

Moments later, Duke was dead, shot to death inside his fenced-in front yard, Brooks said.

Duke's owners were only recently able to see the police report filed in connection with the incident, and were upset that it didn't include all the details about the dog's death.

The officer shot Duke, the larger of the two dogs at 65 pounds, because he was worried the animal was going to bite him in the crotch, an Ocoee Police Department spokesman told Channel 9 last week.

Brooks, though, said he heard “no verbal communication from the officer” at the time, and was upset that Duke's death was not explained in the report.

“We feel like it should at least be on record that the officer discharged his firearm,” Brooks said.

According to the report, three Ocoee officers were on Starke Lake at about 12:15 p.m. and saw a boat without a visible certificate or decal number.

The boat was anchored but not docked at a pier, which caused officers to "believe that the vessel could have been illegally dumped and even stolen," the report said.

The officers decided to ask nearby property owners if they knew about the vessel and one, later identified as officer Steven Bertrand, left in a marked patrol car while the other two, officers David Ogletree and Jose Massenet, remained on the water, the report said.

After Bertrand left, Ogletree and Massenet said they heard a gunshot, the report said.

That gunshot was the one that killed Duke and it was fired by an Ocoee police officer, Brooks claimed.

The report did not address the shot or who pulled the trigger, though, except to say that no person was struck and a 9 mm shell casing was taken into evidence.

Brooks told officers that the boat in question did belong to him, the report said.

The Ocoee Police Department said that an internal investigation had been opened in the case.

Brooks said what he wants is acknowledgement of what happened.

“We haven’t retained any attorneys yet, but we want to get their perspective and see if that would help to change things in the future,” he said.

With Brooks' permission, Duke's body was taken into custody by Animal Control, the report said.

The Ocoee Police Department declined to comment on camera after multiple requests from Channel 9.

Cierra Putman

Cierra Putman, WFTV.com

Cierra Putman flew south to join Eyewitness News in July 2016.