Attorneys/Judges
| Prosecutor(s): | Kevin Guillory | | Defense(s): | Eric Hessler | | Judge(s): | Ben Willard |
K-9 dog fell 17 stories to death
New Orleans, LA (US)Incident Date: Thursday, May 21, 2009
County: Orleans
Disposition: Dismissed
Person of Interest: Randy Lewis
Orleans prosecutors Wednesday dismissed the charge they filed six months ago that accused a New Orleans police officer of malfeasance in office in connection with the 2009 paid detail he worked during which a K-9 unit dog fell down an elevator shaft to his death.
Sgt. Randy Lewis, 45, a former supervisor in the NOPD's K-9 unit, appeared at Criminal District Court on Wednesday for trial before Judge Ben Willard.
But prosecutors dropped the charge, reserving the right to review the case and possibly bring new charges, said Christopher Bowman, spokesman for District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro.
The paperwork filed in the case record was marked dismissed by Assistant District Attorney Kevin Guillory.
"The matter is not closed," said Rafael Goyeneche, president of the Metropolitan Crime Commission, which investigated a string of K-9 deaths at the hands of NOPD officers. "I'm not ready to say there was no crime committed and I don't think the district attorney's office is either."
Lewis always denied any wrongdoing, saying that he left out in his report on the incident that he was working a paid detail at the time the dog, named Phantom, died.
But prosecutors questioned why he had brought along Phantom, the K-9 who died after falling down the empty 17th floor elevator shaft May 21, 2009, at about 9:30 p.m. Technically, Phantom was NOPD equipment owned by the city, the DA's office noted in a pre-trial motion.
Lewis contended in his two-page incident report that he was training Phantom while on duty at the abandoned Charity Hospital located at 1532 Tulane Avenue, said prosecutors.
His attorney, Eric Hessler, said that the charge was unfair because NOPD knew he was on a paid detail at the time.
The dog's body was removed by NOPD officers the next morning, according to a report from the Interim LSU Public Hospital police department that was obtained by the Metropolitan Crime Commission.
That wait was due to safety concerns, Hessler said, since the elevator shaft was flooded and the incident took place at night.
After an internal NOPD investigation, Lewis received a preliminary 10-day suspension by Deputy Chief Kirk Bouyelas. He was given desk duty after NOPD learned of the criminal charge in April, and hasn't worked in the K-9 department since Phantom's death. References |
