Police foil dog to make drug bust
An attacking pitbull nearly got in the way of law enforcement officers' plans to make a drug bust at a Yuma home Thursday night.
The dog lunged at Border Patrol agents and members of the Yuma County sheriff's Methamphetamine Enforcement Team as they approached the home in the 800 block of East 25th Street, sheriff's spokesman Lt. Eben Bratcher said.
Officers scared off the dog, then confiscated methamphetamine and marijuana at the home and arrested three people on drug-related offenses, Bratcher said.
Two of the three arrested were residents of the home, while the third suspect was arrested after the bust when he allegedly came to the home and tried to buy drugs from one of the officers, who was posing as a drug dealer, Bratcher said.
None of the officers were injured by dog, which Bratcher said went airborne as it lunged.
"One of the officers put his hand out and pushed it away," he said, and the dog ran away. "I don't know how they avoided getting bitten."
The officers would have been justified in shooting the dog under those circumstances, he said.
The residents - identified as George Matthew Kelly, 38, and Laurie Ann Johnson, 43 - were arrested after the officers served a search warrant and seized drugs at the home, Bratcher said. Bratcher did not know the quantity of drugs seized.
They were booked into the county jail on suspicion of possession of drugs and drug possession for the purpose of sale.
Stanley Todd Lane, 34, also of Yuma, was arrested later when he allegedly tried to buy drugs from the undercover officer. He was jailed on suspicion of attempted possession of dangerous drugs.
