Santa Clara police on Thursday locked down a neighborhood in search of an armed parolee, and ended up arresting him before 9:30 a.m. In the process of the short chase, police ended up shooting a pit bull named Daphe who exited the house.
Lt. Wahid Kazem had been searching for 27-year-old Joshua James Benson in the area west of Machado Park, which was put on lockdown until the arrest.
The initial complaint against Benson was a domestic violence report at 4:30 a.m.
But it turns out, police added, that Benson was wanted in connection with an attempted murder.
Police said Benson ran into a friend's house, who ended up cooperating with police. Benson came out of the house and surrendered peacefully.
Police said during the excitement, a pit bull ran out of the house, which made officers feel threatened, and they ended up shooting the dog. Originally, reports were that the dog was dead.
But the owner of the dog, Tamra Preuit, who is the mother of Benson's friend, told NBC Bay Area in an interview that police just shot her dog's leg, which is now broken, and she is very upset. She siad she had warned officers not to shoot her dog, she said, but her 3-year-old pit bull, who is a "sweeheart," simply followed Benson out of the house. She said her dog didn't even bark at the officers, who originally told her they shot Daphne with bean bags.
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Police did not respond immediately for comment.
