
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 11, 1993                   TAG: 9311110185
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-5   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                                LENGTH: Medium

POLICE CHASE, KILLING OF DOG ANGER WOMAN

Authorities are reviewing an incident in which police officers shot a dog during the "hot pursuit" of a woman for an alleged traffic violation.

The owner of the dog, Rose Grant, is the mother of the woman who was being sought in the Halloween chase. Grant said officers killed her German shepherd, broke down her back door and stormed into her house with guns drawn, ordering her and her 7-year-old grandson to get down.

"They scared the daylights out of me, and I was worried about my grandson," Grant said. "You should have seen the look on his face. They were violent. Why were they using guns? It's like using an atom bomb for a fly-swatter."

Grant said she was handcuffed and held in a patrol car for about 30 minutes. They searched her home but did not find her 29-year-old daughter, Eden Cox.

Lynn James, a Police Department spokeswoman, said the department's ethics and standards office is investigating, which is standard whenever an officer fires his weapon.

James said an officer saw Cox and a man involved in a "suspicious activity" about 3:30 p.m. and followed them when they drove off. After Cox allegedly committed a traffic infraction, the officer turned on his siren.

James would not elaborate on the suspicious activity or describe the traffic infraction. Grant said police told her that her daughter failed to signal for a turn.

According to James, Cox fled after slowing her car to let the man out. She pulled over at her mother's house, and police gave chase on foot.

James said Cox told her mother's dog to attack an officer as she ran inside, and the officer shot the animal when it came at him. She said police were entitled to search the house without a warrant as part of a "hot pursuit."

Grant said she never saw her daughter but was told she ran through the house and out again and escaped.

"Why did they come in with guns and terrify us like that?" she said. "Why didn't they just come to my door? That's all I want to know."

She said she has not spoken with her daughter since the incident.

by CNB