Two officers went to the plaintiffs’ apartment to look for the dogs reportedly involved in the biting incident.
that does not indicate the PLAINTIFFS DOGS were the ones doing the biting
Ok looking at the WaPo Article ......
Three months after that shooting on June 2, Umana and Amaya know little more about
what happened that night.
They said an internal affairs investigator told them that a woman had called 911 and said that Hennessy and another dog had jumped on her outside. The woman was taken to the hospital for a dog bite, police said, and officers had gone to the apartment to investigate.
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The police department’s communications director, Julie Wright, declined to answer questions from The Washington Post about the June encounter — including what justification the officers had or if they had obtained a warrant. She cited the ongoing investigation by internal affairs and said that two of the officers remain suspended and that the third — who had been placed on administrative leave — has returned to full duties.
She would not say which dog allegedly bit the 911 caller and said the “nature of the victim’s injuries” are part of the investigation. The department declined to share the incident report with The Post and would not confirm how many times the dog was shot.
Police said after the incident that two officers investigating a report of a dog bite had gone to an apartment where they thought the pets were to be found and “obtained a key from an employee of the apartment complex” after no one answered. Police said a third officer “announced themselves” as they entered the Landover Hills-area apartment.
I'll repeat my initial observation a Dog Bite is not exigent circumstances to enter an apartment uninvited
The plaintiffs allege that police illegally broke into their home, assaulted them, and shot and paralyzed their dog.
dcist.com
Attorneys played an edited compilation of Ball’s body camera footage and cell phone footage from one of the plaintiffs on Monday, showing the encounter from the time police arrived at the apartment building to the shooting of Hennessy and moments after. The footage showed officers immediately taking an adversarial approach: After Ball encountered Sanchez sitting on the steps outside and she declined to answer his questions, Ball ordered her to leave the property, alleging she was trespassing. The officers then went inside the building, and knocked on the roommates’ apartment door, receiving no response.
Body camera footage then shows Ball gesturing at his body camera and telling a colleague that the door to the apartment “would be open by now” if not for the camera.
“I used to open them all the time,” Ball added.
Ball and Mihanda then went back outside and flagged down a maintenance worker at the complex to get a master apartment key, which they used to open the door, video shows. The officers did not have a warrant to search the apartment, the suit said.
The officers entered the apartment with their guns drawn, according to the body camera video and the suit.
In the footage, one of the residents can be heard asking if the police have a warrant.
“We don’t need a warrant,” Mihanda replied. “We have probable cause.”
Officers attempted to detain the residents, who struggled back, the video shows.
Hennessy then enters the camera frame, barking and walking towards her owner, Umana. The footage shows bullets hitting Hennessy as he falls to the floor.
“She trots right past Officer Mihanda, so there was no fear of her attacking,” Ruff said at the press conference. “As she came out of the bedroom, she walks right past that officer, but these officers are so hyped up and panicked … suddenly they shoot poor Hennessy in the back.”
The gunshots came from Jackson and Mihanda’s service weapons, according to the suit. Ball simultaneously shot at the dog with his taser, the suit said. Footage shows Sanchez comforting Hennessey while the dog bled on the floor.
