LISBON

Lisbon police say an officer shot a dog early Wednesday morning after being bitten multiple times, and that the animal was later euthanized.

Police say Officer Andrew Levesque responded to a mobile home at 2 Claire Drive in Lisbon Falls to check on the well-being of a juvenile female.

The homeowner opened the door for Levesque while holding onto the dog’s collar, “and the dog immediately pulled away from the subject and charged at Officer Levesque,” according to a Lisbon PD statement. “The dog then bit Officer Levesque’s hand and Levesque kicked the dog, and was able to break contact.”

Levesque jumped off the front stairs of the residence and repeatedly warned the owner to control their dog, police said. The resident’s owner attempted to grab hold of the dog again without success, according to police, “and the dog lunged, biting Officer Levesque a second time in the thigh.”

“Levesque again kicked the dog, breaking contact. The dog attacked Levesque a third time, biting him in the opposite thigh. Levesque fought the dog off again, simultaneously drawing his firearm and shooting three rounds into the dog.”

After it was shot, the dog took shelter under a vehicle before fleeing from the residence.

The dog was found a short distance away at 7:13 a.m. Wednesday and was transported to a nearby veterinary hospital where it was euthanized because of its wounds.

Levesque received medical attention at Central Maine Medical Center for injuries he suffered during the attacks. He received a series of rabies vaccinations because the dog had not received its required vaccinations, and was released later that day.

Police Chief Marc Hagan said his department dealt with the dog prior on July 18, when it was reportedly running at large, attacked a neighbor’s dog and behaved aggressively toward the neighbor’s dog’s owner.

After investigating, police summonsed 70-year-old Vernon Hamilton of 2 Claire Drive for keeping an unlicensed dog, failure to vaccinate a dog and allowing a dog to be at large.

However, police were told after the dog attack Wednesday that the dog is actually owned by Hamilton’s 22- year-old grandson, who has not been charged. Hagan said the district attorney’s office is reviewing the case and additional charges could be issued.

As for the police department, Hagan said it always reviews every incidence of use of force.

“This will be reviewed just like every other use of force case,” he said.

Differing accounts

Hamilton and the dog’s owner, Alan Ryerson, gave the Sun Journal a different account of the event. According to the newspaper, Hamilton said that Levesque didn’t identify himself as a police officer and that Levesque forced the door open letting the dog out. The officer then reportedly leaped from the porch and fired three shots, hitting the dog with two.

Hagan said Levesque never got a chance to identify himself before the dog charged, and declined to comment on the version of the incident told by Hamilton and Ryerson.

Ryerson told the Sun Journal his dog, who he got as a puppy and didn’t like authority figures, was a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Hagan said his animal control officer and the veterinarians who treated the dog identified it as a fiveyear old American Staffordshire terrier — also considered part of the pit bull breed.

dmoore@timesrecord.com