Woman said pit bull was protecting her

By Rhonda Cook

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

J-Bo was Tiara Vinson’s pet and her protector.

She said her 4-year-old pit bull was doing what he was supposed to do – protecting her – when she let the excited dog out of the house early Friday after seeing a man trying to hide underneath her car.

“I thought someone was breaking into my car … with all the robberies going on in my neighborhood,” Vinson told the AJC. “It happened so fast.”

That was when a Fulton County policeman shot and killed Vinson’s  pit bull as the dog attacked a handcuffed suspected prowler the officer had just chased through a neighborhood off Old National Highway, according to spokesman Scott McBride.

“He was so smart. He knew who the perpetrator was. He didn’t go to the officer. He went straight for the perpetrator,” Vinson said. “My dog is gone now.”
Vinson said she got J-Bo when he was only weeks old. “He’s always been with me,” Vinson said, adding that while he was protective he only barked if someone came into her yard.

“He puts up a good bark,” said Vinson, 23.

According to the police report, an officer was dispatched to investigate a report that a man was looking into cars parked along Old Bill Cook Road. The report said the man, identified as Meco Bernard Brown, ran when the officer called out to him.

The chase through several back yards ended on Sturbridge Way in Vinson’s yard, about 30 feet from her front door.

The report said the officer heard barking from inside the house as he was putting handcuffs on Brown, 31, of College Park, and moments later someone opened the screen door to let the excited dog outside.

Vinson said J-Bo was ordinarily on a leash when outside the house. She said J-Bo responded to commands and would have stopped the attack if she had reached him in time.

“The dog circled the curb where I was placed with my offender, who was lying face down and handcuffed behind the back,” the report said. “The pit bull struck and grabbed hold of the offender’s jacket collar. I repeatedly yelled that I was the police loud enough to be heard and ordered the residents to come get the dog.”

A visitor with a gun came out and fired once into the air, according to the report.

“The residents of the home were hollering and I continued to state that I was the police as I shined my flashlight on the departmental patch on my shoulder,” the officer wrote.

It was then the man went back inside. The man, Christopher Rich, 27, of Fairburn was charged with reckless conduct, a misdemeanor.

“At this point the pit bull had latched on to the offender’s neck and would not let go,” according to the report.

That is when the officer shot and killed J-Bo.

McBride said Brown, charged with misdemeanor obstruction of a police officer, had suffered a "pretty serious" dog bite to the neck” that required a trip to the hospital.

Vinson said she didn’t see the shooting but she heard it as she was getting her shoes to go outside to get J-Bo.

“I knowed they had killed my dog,” said Vinson, who works at a daycare center. “He just laid there. He died instantly.”

Vinson said the policeman offered condolences for killing J-Bo. “I just wish he would have taken a different avenue. The dog was to protect us. He did what he was supposed to do. He was just protecting us.”