rock
© MCAS Rock, a 5-year-old pit bull mix, was euthanized at the Montgomery County Animal Shelter Saturday
An off-duty police officer was recently accused of brutally assaulting 3 dogs with a large wooden board while visiting an animal shelter with his family to adopt a dog.

Staff members at Montgomery County Animal Shelter said that they were not involved in the incident, but allegedly, the officer let at least three different dogs out of their pens and into an exercise area where the animals began to fight.

The officer has not been officially named by the media or the police department.

According to the staff, fights sometimes do occur, but they usually avoid having the dogs in the same area so they can bypass that problem.

Also, staff members with the shelter said that fights rarely result in deaths or severe injury, and many times are just involving minor scratches.

They are also fairly easy to break up. However, this officer took it upon himself to grab a nearby 2×4 board and begin to beat the animals senseless with it, killing one of them and inflicting major life-threatening damage to the others.

A second dog was later euthanized due to the severity of his injuries.

"We are aware of allegations of animal cruelty against a customer or client at the Montgomery County Animal Shelter that was involved where he allegedly struck one or more dogs requiring at least one of the dogs to be euthanized," District Attorney Brett Ligon said.

MCAS Director Dr. Todd Hayden said that the case was under investigation.

"There was a dog fight and he had a 2×4 and hit one of them hard enough to cause neurological damage. We are working with the DA and the dog is going to Texas A&M tomorrow (Monday) for a necropsy," Hayden said.

By beating the animals in the way that he did, the officer had proven that he was not fit to be responsible or care for any animals.