Phoenix woman is left heartbroken after her escaped pet EMU ‘Richard’ died after police lassoed him, tied him by the neck and struggled with him as she tried to get into the back of a police car

A Phoenix mother and son say they are devastated after their escaped pet emu was killed when Mesa Police Department officers tried to capture the bird and force it into the back of their patrol car.

The bird, known as ‘Richard’, was known to occasionally escape from its enclosure, but always returned home alive.

On this occasion, a neighbor called the local police to help, but things took a tragic turn.

Officers tried to lasso the six-and-a-half-year-old emu, but the attempt appeared to damage the bird’s long and fragile neck.

Cell phone footage of the incident shows officers standing around the bird, which is lying flat on the ground after apparently strangling the bird following a police detention.

At one point a deputy is seen with his hands around the bird’s neck before trying to drag it into the vehicle

Officers had difficulty from the start as they tried to force the bird into the vehicle

Footage of the botched ‘arrest’ shows the bird struggling with two officers and flapping its wings wildly as it tries to break free.

One of the officers could be seen with his hands around the bird’s neck, while another shot shows a rope wrapped around it.

At one point, both rear doors of the patrol car were open and officers appeared to drag him by the neck into the vehicle.

When that approach failed, the bird suddenly appeared lifeless, with its long neck hanging upside down.

Police officers could then be seen trying to revive the bird by giving it some water, but it was no use and the emu was unresponsive.

Officers tried to use a rope to ‘trap’ the animal in the back of their police car

Officers then tried to revive the bird by placing a bowl of water on the ground

The bird’s lifeless body lies next to the sheriff’s car

Officers could do little after the tragic incident

“You can’t put a lasso around their neck and try to yank on them and make them do what you want them to do. You’re going to kill them,” Stephanie Moilan, the bird’s owner, told them Fox 10. ‘It was so inappropriate. It was completely unnecessary.’

Moilan described the unusual pet as ‘amazing’.

‘You could feed her by hand. I would go and pet her and cuddle her,” she added. “She was just so much fun,” Moilan said through tears. “I’m really going to miss her.”

Michael Davis, who captured the tragic series of events on camera, says he believes the police response was heavy-handed.

‘I don’t think it had to happen that way. He was just very calm and just wondering. Not aggressive at all. Not threatening,” Davis said.

“Everyone who witnessed this said, ‘Is it breathing?’ Are you choking it?’ The emu was clearly in distress and kicking and screaming as officers tried to get her into the car. Then it stopped moving. Unfortunately, no one knew what to do at the time,” Davis said 12 News.

“You can’t put a lasso around their neck and try to yank on them and make them do what you want them to do. You’re going to kill them,” said Stephanie Moilan, the bird’s owner

The bird had been walking around but was not aggressive towards anyone

The emu, known as Richard, is seen in better times

Moilan’s child enjoyed playing with the bird and rinsed it regularly

Davis says the officers were ill-equipped and untrained to handle the situation.

Officials with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said emergency crews arrived on the scene after a call for the loose emu and that “while being collected, the bird collapsed and died.”

Moilan disagrees with the police’s version of events.

‘There was no conspiracy. I don’t think you need a lasso for that,” Moilan said.

‘I think they were thoughtless. My 11-year-old’s first reaction was, “Did they call animal control?” Did they call nature’s response?’