R.I.P. Otto – Killed by Wyckoff, NJ Police

This is Otto. My best friend Igor got him in 2009 when he moved to a new house and could finally get a puppy.

This is Igor and Otto in the backyard of their new home. Otto loved playing in the backyard. He would fetch for hours, sometimes carrying a ball while nudging another with his nose. He loved being outside.

Otto always watched the New Jersey Devils with Igor, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. He even had his own Kovalchuk jersey, though now Igor wishes it would have been for a different player.

Otto was referred to by friends and family as the “Gentleman” since he had such a pleasant and loving disposition.

Igor trained him well. They were best buds.

And he loved to cuddle.

This is one of the last photos taken of Otto on Monday 4/27, two days before he was shot and killed by an officer of the Wyckoff Police Department, who was supposed to take a police report at the neighbor’s house. He entered the backyard of the incorrect address, Igor’s house, and Otto came running to greet him from his doggie door.

The officer shot four times and hit Otto twice. Otto tried to drag himself across the yard back to the house after being shot. This is where he was found by Igor – barely alive, moments after he had been shot.

The Wyckoff Police maintain that the officer was investigating the yard when he noticed an open window. Thinking this was a potential burglary in progress, he drew his weapon. Seconds later, Otto leapt through the window and “attacked his boot.” The police maintain that there was a struggle and the Officer feared for his life, requiring four shots to subdue Otto. The officer was not injured.

Otto was rushed to an animal hospital where Igor and his family watched him die from his injuries. This is Igor saying goodbye.

EVIDENCE

The police story does not remotely add up. Otto had never attacked anyone in his life. He was not aggressive. But he would have immediately heard a person enter his yard and would instantly come out to greet them. Witness statements indicate the Officer was not in the yard for more than a few seconds before firing his gun, meaning he could not have observed an open window as cause to draw his weapon. Witnesses did not observe a struggle. He was simply startled and fired four shots at a dog who would have only sniffed him.

Igor & I began to put the pieces together. (This chart is ours.) Desperate to cover their tracks, the police concocted the story about the bitten boot and the open window, as a way to justify deadly force. They made no investigation, displaying negligence so great that Igor & I discovered ballistics at the scene they had not recovered themselves, proving the Officer could have never investigated the yard prior to drawing his weapon. The police continue to lie, insult Igor’s family, and have not yet publicly apologized.