Dupont Dog Owner Tries to Move On After Loss

Over time, Joe developed an appreciation for his homeless comrades in Dupont Circle.

"I see the homeless helping the homeless," he said. "It's really amazing to me," to see a guy give away his last dollar. "It develops a different character. I like them better than the average churchgoer, no offense."

The admiration is mutual.

"Joe is sincere," said Bill Maggi, 45, a Massachusetts native who said he has been living around the Dupont Circle park while waiting to get enough money to return home. "He's intelligent, slightly delusional. He's just genuine. He's very kind. He doesn't have the classic symptoms of a homeless person. He's not an alcoholic. He's not a drug-addicted person.

"He's very much a big fish in this sea of homeless," Maggi said.

After the shooting, Joe said, the admiration in the park became a bit much. "Some of these guys will take a bullet for me," he said. "That's scary."

On Sept. 11, Joe was in the park shortly before 6 p.m., listening to the news on his headphones. Precious was chasing squirrels.

A Park Police officer saw the dog and yelled for Joe to put her on a leash. Joe says he didn't hear him.

Then, according to the officer's report, the dog ran toward him at "what appeared to be full speed." After the shooting, the officer wrote that Joe said, "It's my fault; I should have had the dog on a leash."

Yellow police tape went up. Crowds gathered. A television crew arrived.

Joe began sobbing. "She's gone now. She's dead. She's dead," he said after the Washington Humane Society removed the dog's body from the sidewalk.

Members of the U.S. Humane Society, who happened to be at the scene, said the officer should have used nonlethal force. A woman who saw the dog only at the last second said it wasn't moving when the officer fired his gun.

A second witness, Sally Montgomery, who was walking through the park after work, said she thought the officer had drawn his gun and walked toward Precious, who was running in circles.

She said the dog then started running in the general direction of the officer. "I didn't think he was coming directly at him. This looked like the dog was playing," Montgomery said. She said she saw only the back of the dog and could not see whether it was baring its teeth.

Lt. Scott Fear, a Park Police spokesman, said witnesses told police that the dog charged at the officer. That report was backed up by two witnesses questioned by WUSA Channel-9 News, including one who said Precious came at the officer "with a beeline, I mean ready to attack.''

The inspector general's office of the Interior Department is investigating the matter and declined to comment on the case.

Joe said he's not sure what happened but nonetheless is convinced that the officer went too far. "He messed up and he's stuck with it," Joe said. "Everyone is going to have to take sides on this, from the White House on down."

Isaiah Jackson, 21, who hangs out in the park and was a big fan of Precious, said Joe is still taking the dog's death very hard.

"He hasn't been the same," Jackson said. "He doesn't seem whole anymore. . . . He kind of mopes around."