Couple say Roselle cops didn’t need to Taser dog

A 2-year-old pit bull named Chooch died last week when Roselle police officers used a stun gun to subdue the dog after he bit a family member.

Now Chooch’s owners — Haley Alexis Pekala, 20, and her boyfriend Micheal Kotas, 22 — say police used excessive force to get the roughly 50-pound pit bull under control.

“They overreacted,” said Pekala, of Roselle. “The dog didn’t have to be Tasered. They Tasered him so bad that I have pictures of where his skin turned black. They took it way out of control.”

Roselle Deputy Police Chief Roman Tarchala said Monday the department is investigating to make sure officers followed proper policy and procedure when they responded about 9 p.m. May 8 to Kotas’ house in Roselle to a report of a dog bite.

Kotas’ mother had been severely bitten in the leg while trying to break up a fight between Chooch and another pit bull at the home, Tarchala said. The dogs started fighting when someone arrived at the house to deliver food.

Kotas’ mother was taken to Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village, police said, where she needed surgery and remained hospitalized Monday.

On the night of the incident, paramedics were treating Kotas’ mother in the front yard while Kotas’ father was trying to calm Chooch down in the kitchen. When police officers entered the house, the dog started barking at them.

“When you are walking into a house, and you’re in uniform and everything, what is the dog supposed to do?” Pekala said.

Tarchala said officers were aware that Chooch had bitten someone previously.

Pekala said the earlier bite happened more than a year ago at her house when a family member attacked the dog in what was later determined to be an animal abuse situation.

“They (authorities) didn’t take away the dog or anything,” she said. “They did nothing last time.”

Nevertheless, Tarchala said officers decided to take added precautions while trying to take the dog.

When they saw Kotas’ father struggling with Chooch, the officers stunned and noosed the dog “to get it under control,” Tarchala said.

“In the process, the dog was unresponsive,” he said. “They transported the dog to the animal hospital in Schaumburg. That’s where the dog died.”

How many times the stun gun was used is under investigation. But Kotas says he believes the device was used at least twice because of marks on the dog’s body.

“Personally, I think they used excessive force,” Kotas said. “I don’t think the dog needed to be Tasered in the first place, considering the fact that my dad had him cornered in our kitchen and was calming him down.”

Tarchala said officers can use a stun gun on a dog in certain situations. “It’s allowable to use on animals if they are vicious animals,” he said.

But Kotas insists Chooch “never once made an attempt to go after” the police officers.

“Yes, he bit somebody,” Kotas said. “But it wasn’t acceptable to use excessive force to the point where he passed away.”