Officer fired over dog shooting incident

Police Chief Tom Berry last week fired the Mountain Home Police officer who shot a dog on Sept. 30.

Berry's action came following a lengthy independent investigation conducted, at his request, by the Garden City Police Department, which was reported to Berry last week

In a terse, brief statement issued by Berry, no specific reason was cited for the termination of officer Rahn Olaso. Berry cited state personnel law privacy act considerations, and the advice of the city attorney, for withholding his reasoning for the firing. However, Berry is known to hold his officers to the highest standards and had expressed his concern at that time of the shooting about any incident in which a weapon is drawn and discharged.

It was the first time in years that a Mountain Home Police officer had discharged his weapon while on duty.

The incident involving Olaso began on the evening on Sept. 30 when he responded to a 911 call in the 1100 block of N. 9th East Street. As he left his vehicle, the dog, believed to be an Australian Blue Heeler, left the porch of the house where his owners were sitting, and approached Olaso.

Olaso contended he believed the dog was about to attack him, drew his weapon and fired three shots at it, all striking the dog and killing it. Other witnesses had said the dog was approaching the officer in a friendly manner, wagging its tail.

Olaso had worked in law enforcement for five years, four with the Idaho State Police and the last year with the Mountain Home Police Department.

Olaso, along with EMS units, had been responding to a 911 call in the area, but the dog was not related to the household where the call had come from, which was a separate incident.