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Ridgewood Police: Dog Ordered To Kill Officers Shot During Traffic Stop

RIDGEWOOD, N.J. -- Ridgewood police shot and wounded a large dog who they said jumped through a car window at his master's command to kill them.

From a GoFundMe page posted Monday.

From a GoFundMe page posted Monday.

Photo Credit: https://www.gofundme.com/bww9ued8

It was around 10:30 p.m. Saturday when the officers approached the car, which had been rolling at about 5 miles an hour down Lincoln Avenue when it came to a stop at the Godwin Avenue intersection, Capt. Jacqueline Luthcke said.

The officers were concerned over whether "there were any medical or other issues," she said.

The driver -- identified as Wilfredo Paduani, 38, of West Paterson -- "became combative and assaulted" the officers, Luthcke said.

"The owner then told the dog to kill the officers," she said.

"The dog jumped from an open window and charged at them.

"It was a large dog," the captain told Daily Voice. "He would have done some serious damage.

"No one wanted this to happen. But the officer had no choice in the matter," she said.

The dog was taken to Oradell Animal Hospital in Paramus for treatment.

Paduani, meanwhile, was being held on $50,000 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with aggravated assault, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest, obstruction of justice, making terroristic threats, drug possession and being under the influence of drugs. He also received several traffic summonses, Luthcke said.

The dog was "fighting for his life with a bullet in his trachea, one of his legs, and two in his back," according to a GoFundMe established Monday -- ostensibly to help pay medical expenses. "He is also suffering with a collapsed lung."

"Our GoFundMe me page was not intended to start any controversy," Paduani's nephew, Christian, told Daily Voice. "We truly only wanted to raise the money and bring our dog home to the family as he was before all of this occurred."

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