Lawsuit against Fort Mill cops claims dog was shot, killed for no reason

The town of Fort Mill and two police officers are being sued by a resident who claims one of the officers shot and killed his dog for no reason two years ago and forced him to watch his wounded dog bleed to death.

The lawsuit, filed June 30 in U.S. District Court in Columbia, states that on July 1, 2013, Fort Mill police officers Robert Giglio and Royce Clack responded to a call at the Jackson Street home of David Royal Lee regarding an earlier “neighbor trespass situation,” according to a summons served on the town of Fort Mill and the two officers.

When Lee saw the officers approaching, he went inside his home to get some paperwork and while there heard gunshots. When he came back outside, he saw one of his two dogs, a Boxer-mix, bleeding from gunshot wounds to his head and jaw, the summons states.

Lee, who requested a jury trial and seeks unspecified damages, claims in the lawsuit that Giglio, who fired at both dogs, but hit one called “T,” and Clack, both refused to give aid to the wounded dog who was bleeding, but still alive.

When Lee tried to get the officers to help, the lawsuit states, “Clack advised plaintiff to ‘not run up on the car.’ (Lee) basically had his hand over the blood running out of ‘T’s’ face, and was seeking help from the other various officers too, who also refused help, including defendant officer Giglio.”

When Lee tried to take T to his veterinarian about a mile away, he was pulled over by Clack, who accused Lee of reckless driving.

“The defendant Clack illegally stopped the plaintiff without probable cause or reasonable suspicion, kept him confined in the back of the police car for an extended period of time, all the while plaintiff watched with horror as his dog companion, his best friend, lie dying in the back of his vehicle, and was unable to help because he was not allowed to exit the back of the patrol car,” the summons states.

Fort Mill Police Department spokesman Maj. Bryan Zachary said he could not comment on the lawsuit, citing ongoing litigation.

In the lawsuit, Lee, now 41, states that his two dogs – T, who was 7 when he was killed, and T’s father, Jack-Jack, described in the summons as a full-blood Boxer, 8 years old at the time – was so docile they were welcome in the kindergarten class where Lee was a substitute teacher.

A FMPD incident report from that 2013 call tells a different story.

The report states that Giglio and another officer not named in the lawsuit responded “to a harassment call for service,” and “ exiting the patrol vehicle,” officer Giglio was charged aggressively by the resident’s two pitbull/boxer mix canines,” who left Lee’s property, crossed into a neighbor’s yard and then headed for road, where Giglio was standing, according to the report.

“Officer Giglio fired his service pistol and struck one of the dogs,” the report states, and that’s when Lee came out of his home and “upon learning what happened, became very irate, profane and belligerent with officers.”

According to the report, Lee was pulled over after driving away with T, officers allegedly observed him speed “away recklessly including driving through the front yard of another residence.” Lee was handcuffed and placed in the back of a patrol car, where police allege he kicked the rear door, causing damage. Lee was charged with three violations of town code – dogs at large, damage to town property and public disorderly conduct.

Neither Lee, the attorney representing Lee, nor the attorneys representing the town and the two officers responded to phone and email requests to comment.

This story was originally published September 10, 2015 at 8:05 PM with the headline "Lawsuit against Fort Mill cops claims dog was shot, killed for no reason."