Pittsburgh Man Jailed For Yelling At Police Dog
(KDKA) PITTSBURGH A Pittsburgh man is in the Allegheny County Jail on $100,000 straight bond for allegedly yelling at a police dog.
Kenneth King, 23, walked by a K-9 police cruiser at a Sunoco station on the North Side shortly after midnight on Saturday and was startled by the dog, which was barking.
Police say King yelled at the dog, "Shut the [expletive] up, and charged with taunting a police animal.
King's parents call it absurd.
"To officially charge him with yelling at a dog – that's asinine to me," Annette Cash, his mother, said.
But at King's arraignment, District Justice Gene Ricciardi put him in jail and set the bond.
"A police dog is a police officer. There is no difference under the law," Ricciardi tells KDKA. "They are not pets and they are trained in the purposes of law enforcement and anyone who would taunt a police officer can be considered a threat to the community."
King's parents say their son, who was returning home from his job as a cook, has no criminal history and poses no threat to anyone.
According to the police report, King placed his hand on his back pocket and threatened to "shank" the dog. After police arrested him and patted him down, they discovered King was carrying a knife.
From jail, King told his parents he did say he would shank the dog but muttered it under his breath and didn't direct it at the officers and that he had no intent of harming the dog.
"Our son was wrong and he acknowledges he was wrong and we don't sit here and say he was right," Keith Cash, his father, said.
His parent say they have no way of coming up with his bond, so their son will stay in jail at least until next week when he faces a preliminary hearing. In the meantime, they say he stands to lose both of his jobs.
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