Left: Matthew Vasquez and Cassandra Page speak on the local news after their dog’s death (KWTX). Right inset: the moments before a Waco police officer opened fire and shot Finn on June 3, 2023 (Waco Police Department/YouTube).
Dog owners in Texas who “did nothing wrong” cannot sue the City of Waco after police responding to a home invasion 911 call in June 2023 went to the wrong address, based on the erroneous autocorrected information they were given, and fatally shot Finn, the couple’s 10-year-old black Labrador retriever, a state appellate court has ruled.
A three-judge panel on the Tenth Court of Appeals said Thursday that plaintiffs Matthew Vasquez and Cassandra Page “are not entitled to relief” because, unlike what the lower court concluded, “they did not plead or establish an independent constitutional waiver” of sovereign immunity nor establish jurisdiction, meaning that the case should be dismissed “with prejudice” — so it can’t be filed again.
“A plaintiff who sues the State or governmental unit must establish the State’s or governmental unit’s consent to suit. Such consent must ordinarily be found in a constitutional provision or legislative enactment,” the court noted. “In other words, a plaintiff must affirmatively demonstrate the court’s jurisdiction by establishing a valid waiver of immunity.”
“Generally,” the court added, “sovereign immunity deprives a trial court of jurisdiction over a lawsuit in which a party has sued the State or a state agency unless the Legislature has consented to suit.”
According to the appellate judges, Vasquez and Page fell short and because their pleading “affirmatively negate[s] the existence of jurisdiction,” they did not get a chance to try again in the trial court.
“This case involves the regrettable, tragic loss of a beloved dog. Page and Vasquez did nothing wrong; but, in this situation, the law just does not provide a remedy,” the panel decided, tossing the case with prejudice.
The Waco Police Department on June 3, 2023, posted its account of what took place, including the initial 911 call that was made and bodycam from the scene of the shooting.
In the aftermath of Finn’s death, cops reveled that when the dispatcher entered the reported home invasion address into the system it autocorrected to the incorrect one — with fatal consequences. When officers responded to the wrong address, they went to the back door of Vasquez and Page’s home and saw it was slightly open, local CBS affiliate KWTX reported. Moments later, barking could be heard as five dogs ran out.
Page reportedly woke up from a nap to find that the dogs ran into the backyard and that cops were there. She was clearly confused about what was happening and listened as officers explained why they were there.
“You shot my dog?” she said with surprise when the officer said he was “sorry” and revealed that he shot one of her dogs.
“You shot my dog with a gun?” she asked again. When she walked to the side of the house, Page let out a scream. At this point in time Finn was still alive, but he did not survive.
Cops reportedly said the officer who opened fire “made the decision to fire one round of his duty-issued weapon” after Finn “aggressively lunged” at him twice.
Read the appellate ruling here.
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