June 12, 2025.

A New Orleans police officer who shot and killed a puppy violated its owners’ constitutional rights but had qualified immunity, a federal jury found. On Thursday, the jury ruled in a civil lawsuit that Officer Derrick Burmaster had acted unreasonably when he killed a 22-pound (10-kilogram) Catahoula Leopard dog named Apollo, according to the plaintiffs’ attorney William Most. The jury awarded the dog’s owners $10,400 in damages to be paid by the city, Most said. The 16-week old rescue dog had run toward Burmaster when he entered a home’s yard in response to a domestic disturbance report in 2021. While multiple internal investigations initially found Burmaster’s use of force was not justified, department leadership later cleared him of wrongdoing after the civil lawsuit was filed.