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Suspect in the stabbing death of police K-9 did not cut officers (Includes interview)

Spokespersons from the Port Authority of Allegheny County as well as police officials said several hours after Bruce Kelley Jr. of Pittsburgh, was shot and killed after he stabbed K-9 Officer Aren, that one police officer who was involved in the deadly encounter was taken to a hospital for treatment of a knife wound, and another officer was also cut, but was not treated at a hospital.

Late this afternoon Allegheny County Police Superintendent Charles Moffatt told Digital Journal that none of the officers involved in Sunday’s deadly encounter were cut or stabbed.

“As far as I know, none of the officers were cut with a knife,” Moffatt said. One officer, Moffatt said was taken to a local hospital for x-rays of his arm, but not for wounds inflicted by a knife. “We were advised at first that it was a slash, but it was not.”

The encounter started shortly after 3:30 p.m. Sunday when two Port Authority police officers approached Kelley Jr., and his father Bruce Kelley, Sr. for consuming alcohol in a public park, officials said, as well as court documents filed in a case against Kelley Sr.

After Kelley Jr. refused to comply with repeated police commands, he was TASED six times and was sprayed twice with pepper spray, all of which were ineffective.

The encounter ended when a police officer released K-9 Officer Aren who, according to reporting from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review latched onto Kelley Jr.’s left arm and was then stabbed at least twice in the facial area. At that point, K-9 Officer Aren’s handler Sgt. Brian O’Malley fired 10 of the 12 shots that were fired at Kelley Jr., and another officer fired two shots, according to statements made by Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala, Jr. at a news conference Thursday.

Kelley Jr. was pronounced dead at the scene according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner.

The Medical Examiner’s Office reported that K-9 Officer Aren died from stab wounds received in the oral cavity. Zappala said Thursday that Aren bled to death as a result of a severed artery under his tongue. Officer Aren was transported to an emergency veterinary hospital for treatment, after he was stabbed.

Questions have been raised by the public and a police watchdog whether the shooting of Kelley Jr. was justified after he stabbed K-9 Officer Aren. The Pennsylvania animal cruelty statute was amended after the stabling death of K-9 Officer Rocco in January 2014, making it a second-degree felony for anyone that harms or kills a police animal.

Section 508 of the Pennsylvania Crimes Code permits law enforcement officers to use deadly force when “The person to be arrested has committed or attempted a forcible felony or is attempting to escape and possesses a deadly weapon, or otherwise indicates that he will endanger human life or inflict serious bodily injury unless arrested without delay.”

Zappala said at the news conference, according to the Tribune-Review report, that officers could not simply let Kelley Jr. walk away. “He’s not rational. It appears he has a deadly weapon. What if a hostage comes into play?”

Under the recently amended animal cruelty statute, now referred to as “Rocco’s Law,” it appears that Kelley Jr. committed a second degree forcible felony when he stabbed Officer Aren.

Kelley Jr. according to the criminal complaint filed in Kelley Sr.’s case assaulted at least one police officer during the encounter which is also a felony.. He refused multiple commands by officers to drop the knife, which has turned out to be 4 inches, not 14 inches as first reported.

The county police homicide unit is investigating the shooting of Kelley, Jr. Zappala said he as not reached any conclusion whether the use of the police dog, or the shooting of Kelley Jr. was justified.

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