FeedsPolice break up dog fight, seize $3,000 cash
Inkster police broke up a dogfight Saturday night after several residents complained about growling and other noises coming from the garage of a local home.
Officers arrived at a residence on the 26000 block of Norfolk Street at about 7 p.m. March 10. When they arrived, officers found a crowd of residents outside the garage, said Det. Brian Dennis of the Inkster Police Department.
“The officers found the dogs when they arrived on the scene,” he said. “Two of the dogs were fighting and went after an officer. Out of fear for his life and the lives of others, he had to shoot two of the dogs.”
Dog fighting – a practice that involves people training and abusing pit bull terriers over extended periods of time to fight one another until death – is an illegal spectator sport that typically involves gambling.
In the investigation that followed, about $3,000 in cash was seized by officers at the scene, police said.
Several people were taken into custody at the home, including six adults and five juveniles, police said.
The adults were still in custody awaiting formal arraignment at the Inkster jail Tuesday afternoon. The juveniles were released into the custody of their parents, and their cases were referred to Juvenile Court in Detroit for resolution.
The adults in the case could be charged with animal cruelty, a felony punishable by up to four year behind bars. Their names were withheld by police pending formal charges. Generally, the Inkster Ledger-Star does not publish the names of those charges as a juvenile with a crime.
Dennis said there are several statutes specifically related to dog fighting that some of the individuals could face, and that the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office will make the decision about the charges.
In total, five pit bulls were found at the site: the two that were shot by police, and three others, Dennis said. All will have to be euthanized.
“One of the dogs was too large and too vicious to be removed, and we called the animal warden to remove him,” he said. “But when we went back to the home, someone had removed him.”
Det. Lt. Kevin Smith said dog fighting is not typical in Inkster, but when it happens, it’s an outrage to residents and police.
“The manner in which these dogs are trained is cruel in and of itself,” he said. “You have to be brutal to get an animal to act like that, and we’re going to prosecute anyone remotely involved in it.
“The worst part about it is that they’re normal animals before people who do this get a hold of them, and they can never be redeemed once something like this happens,” Smith said. “And it’s not their choice to take part in it.”
