This booking photo provided by the Baltimore Police Department shows Jeffrey Bolger, 49, of Eldersburg, Md. Bolger, a Baltimore police officer faces trial July 28, 2014, on animal cruelty charges for allegedly cutting the throat of a dog that had been restrained after biting a woman. The female Shar-Pei died from blood loss on June 14, 2014.BALTIMORE – A second Baltimore officer has been suspended while the department investigates his role in the slitting of a dog’s throat, while the animal’s owner says it took her days to find out how the dog died.
Court documents say Officer Thomas Schmidt held the dog down while a fellow officer cut the animal’s throat on Saturday. Schmidt has been suspended with pay during the investigation, Baltimore Police spokesman Jeremy Silbert said.
“This is so criminal what’s happened,” said the 45-pound dog’s owner, Sarah Gossard. “It makes me sick.”
She said detectives contacted her Tuesday to see if she wanted to make a statement but didn’t tell her how the dog had died. She said she finally found out the next day when she was contacted by a reporter.
The officer accused of slitting the dog’s throat, 49-year-old Jeffrey Bolger, faces trial next month on animal cruelty charges. He’s free on his own recognizance and has been suspended without pay.