Monday, September 21, 2026
Page 4
Deputy Accused of Unlawfully Entering Yard, Killing Dog
District Court Complaint Says Officers Had No Warrant, There Was No Emergency
By a MetNews Staff Writer
A complaint has been filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California alleging that a San Bernardino sheriff’s deputy came into the fenced backyard of a home, without a warrant and in the absence of any emergency, and, encountering a family dog, fatally shot her.
Suit against the county and 20 Does was filed Thursday. “DOE 1” is the deputy who shot the dog, with the explanation that the county has declined to reveal his identity.
A reason was provided for the presence of the deputies. Attorney Timothy A. Scott of the San Diego firm of McKenzie Scott PC, who is representing the plaintiffs, said:
“There was a report of a stolen car in the neighborhood. That’s it. No further justification has ever been given for the deputy going into the backyard itself.”
The plaintiffs—Jesus Serna, Vanessa Gonzalez, and their two minor children, suing through Gonzales as their guardian ad litem—were not present at the time of the May 4 incident but a surveillance tape captured what occurred.
The Sheriff’s Department commented on Friday:
“The Department is aware of the lawsuit filed regarding this incident. We look forward to addressing it through the legal process.”
Allegations of Pleading
It is alleged in the complaint (with paragraph numbering omitted):
“The deputy knew before he stepped onto the property that at least one dog lived there. [¶] Two doghouses and food bowls sat in plain view just inside the chain-link fence. He himself saw one dog before he chose to enter the backyard. [¶] Within moments of the deputy illegally entering the yard, the family’s four-year-old Rottweiler, Daisy, began barking and approached him. She did not bite him nor even attempt to bite him. The deputy had an open gate behind him and ample time to step back through it and close it. He chose instead to draw his firearm, attempt to kick Daisy, and then shoot her at nearly point-blank range.”
The pleading continues:
“Daisy did not die immediately. [¶] She yelped, and dragged herself to the side of the yard. [¶] The deputy summoned other Sheriff’s Department personnel, who entered the property in a second warrantless intrusion. [¶] They did not render aid to Daisy. [¶] They did not put her out of her misery. [¶] They spent roughly twenty minutes searching for the expended shell casing instead while she died. [¶] One deputy poked her body with a baton and remarked that he thought she was dead. [¶] Another was recorded joking about killing a dog. [¶] Deputies then took Daisy’s body from the property without the family’s permission, loaded it into a government vehicle, and allowed her remains to be destroyed before the family could retrieve them.”
Second Dog
The complaint says that the deputies shooed the family’s other dog, Raven, off the property. It alleges:
“The County afterward issued a public statement describing Raven as having been found ‘off the property and wandering in the street,’ omitting that it was the County’s own deputies who let her out.”
Causes of action are stated for Fourth Amendment violations, trespass, conversion, negligence, violation of the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act, and municipal liability.
Representing the plaintiffs, along with Scott, are attorneys Lauren M. Mellano and Michelle C. Angeles, also of McKenzie Scott PC.
The case is Serna v. County of San Bernardino, 5:26cv5407.
Southern District Case
Another action alleging the wrongful killing of a dog was brought on Aug. 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. In Stoltey v. County of San Diego, 3:26cv4568, it is averred that plaintiff Robert Paul Stoltey, in the course of walking his three dogs in a cul-de-sac on the night of Aug. 1, 2025, was seated by the Staley side of the road with one of them, “Liddo Kiddo,” on his lap.
The complaint says that sheriff’s deputy Matthew G. Milke “turned his patrol car around within a few feet of plaintiff STOLTEY and activated his siren several times to taunt plaintiff’s dogs.” It alleges that Milke “got out of his patrol car and unholstered his Taser and activated the high-voltage electrical arc between the prongs/electrodes to make a clicking sound several times in a threatening manner, telling plaintiff STOLTEY that he needed to contain his dogs, and threatened to deploy his taser and pepper-spray at plaintiff STOLTEY’s dogs.”
Milke continued to taint the dogs, the pleading says, and “[a]t some point, plaintiff STOLTEY was unable to hold Liddo Kiddo down on his lap and plaintiff’s dog got down off of his lap onto the street” and “defendant MILKE and/or DOE 1 then shot Liddo Kiddo twice in the head with his pistol, killing her.”
The Sheriff’s Office declined a request for comment.
On Sept. 4, Judge Linda Lopez granted the county’s request for an extension until Oct. 13 to file an answer.
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