Family says police killed dog for no reason

by Yizuman 70 Replies latest social current

• 

  Yizuman

  "Unfortunately, during the THP's process of gaining control of the situation, a very rare thing occurred. The Smoaks had been traveling with family dogs, and one of them got loose. It appeared to be a pit bull, and as it exited the car, it clearly approached one of our officers in a threatening manner. Our officer first tried to call the dog down, but after it kept approaching aggressively and started to circle him, the officer took the only action he could to protect himself and gain control of the situation.

  According to the video, the dog was killed 3 seconds after it got out of the car. From what the cop says happened from point A to point B, he's making it sound that it took longer than 3 seconds. So, there's some bull (no pun intended) going on with the cop's story.

  If you see the video, the dog hopped out of the car with it's tail wagging that clearly shows non-agression and was acting very friendly towards the cop and the cop paid his friendly advances by killing it.

  All in 3 SECONDS flat.

  The cop was in the wrong and he should be fired for it.

  Why couldn't they just close the car door and leave it at that?

  This is indicating to me the cop was looking for some action and he was waiting for the dog to come out so he can have a fun target to shoot at.

  Yizuman
• 

  reporter

  I've had dogs bite me wagging their tails. If you watch the video, the dog follows him pretty well off the screen, so it's anybody's guess.
• 

  Cassiline

  I just watched the video from the link below.

  The dog is not menacing in anyway shape or form, he playfully bounces toward the police officer , who then shoots him in the head at least three times with his shotgun. Another officer has his weapon drawn ready to shoot the poor dog as well.

  I understand that at stops such as this tensions are high but I did not see a reason to shoot this poor dog.

  Police Shoot Family's Pet Dog During Mistaken Stop (With Video)http://www.local6.com/orlpn/news/stories/news-187947320030109-110148.html
• 

  reporter

  Why couldn't they just close the car door and leave it at that?

  One of the things they do on felony stops, is to check the interior of the car for contraband, weapons, etc. It's extremely difficult to secure the scene when you have a family plus dogs to contend with...

  On TLC, there's many good cop shows, and you can see situations videotaped there where things get quickly out of hand after "seeming" benign. Case in point is where one cop chases a white car (LDH knows what I'm talking about) clean into a gas station and the car crashes into the flaming pumps before the cop pushes the car out of the way of the flames. That's bravery to say the least, because putting your car in there can cause an explosion in your own car. Turns out, he was blaring Kingdom Melodies (officer thought it was classical music) out his car stereo while he just sat there comatose with his hands gripped to the wheel! It takes all kinds, Yiz!

  BTW, I'm gonna source that video for all to see here as soon as I can find it on again...it was a classic for the vaults.
• 

  Yizuman

  The dog is not menacing in anyway shape or form, he playfully bounces toward the police officer , who then shoots him in the head at least three times with his shotgun. Another officer has his weapon drawn ready to shoot the poor dog as well.

  This is so sickening, I cannot believe what that cop did.

  That cop has already gotten death threats from all sorts of people everywhere.

  He's easily found on the website with his full name, work number etc.

  When I first saw this story at fark.com, someone posted his full name, address, phone number, work number, everything on the comments section and then I see on the news later he told reporters he's gotten death threats already, some came from overseas who saw the story.

  I think the police chief will have to let him go on account of the bad publicity the town has gotten based on his actions and I also think the cops needs to be retrained as well.

  Most of the cops who was in on it should be suspended w/o pay for a duration of time and retrained before they're allowed back on the streets.

  Yizuman
• 

  reporter

  That's what cops have to deal with too, now he's a target with his name and number posted all over the place, and believe me, he's living it down second by tenth of second. That's sad, too. It's all sad.
• 

  SheilaM

  I usually am more on the police side but the dog was WAGGING it's tail not growling nothing he should have called animal control <Bastard>
• 

  Yizuman

  One of the things they do on felony stops, is to check the interior of the car for contraband, weapons, etc. It's extremely difficult to secure the scene when you have a family plus dogs to contend with...

  Look, there are better ways to handle family dogs...here's what I would do.

  Shut the door...

  Call an animal handler specialist to take control of the dogs, then search the car afterwards.

  The dog remained in the car for a good amount of time and the cops had plenty of time to get that car door shut. The father asked the cops to shut the door so they would not get out, they ignored him. So instead, it seemed to me that the cop wanted the dogs to come out so they can have something to target practice on.

  I don't care how long it takes to get an animal specialist to get there to take control of the dogs, better to have them under control than to kill them and regret it later after the felony stop turned out to be nothing.

  Yizuman
• 

  reporter

  Look, there are better ways to handle family dogs...here's what I would do.

  Shut the door...

  Call an animal handler specialist to take control of the dogs, then search the car afterwards

  .

  Yeah, point well taken. Obviously, dealing with animals should be part of an officer's intensive training.
• 

  Cassiline

  Well, whatever it was, it APPEARED to the officer to be part pit bull, even if the actual breed was boxer/bulldog (although few other accounts corroberate this). Whose life is more important, the officer's or the dog's? (Animal rights activists excluded). The officer needs to make split-second decisions in certain situations.

  Several accounts say nothing of the dog being part pit-bull. I only looked at the ones you and Yizuman provided. And found another where the officer Hall said, " he thought the dog was a pit bull and that he was about to attack him". It seems to me that news accounts of any nature are never 100 percent accurate.

  I don't believe that only animal rights activists are upset by this story. As I see it, yes officers need to make "split second decisions" but it seems that those split second decisions are the basis for most turmoil and are used at times in defense of actions, which are deemed to be at times the wrong decision.

  What really bothers me though is there will be more public outrage over this dog being shot then some humans who are shot and killed. How many governors out there of late are apologizing for children and adults being shot in drive by shootings?

  Edit to add:

  I know the video you are speaking of, with the car, gas station and kingdom melodies.

  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/819436/posts?page=22

  a boxer-bulldog mix

  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/819436/posts?page=22

  a bulldog-boxer mix named Patton

  http://www.austin360.com/aas/news/ap/ap_story.html/National/AP.V1236.AP-Dog-Shot.html

  However, during the stop the family's bulldog-boxer mix dog named Patton

  http://www.local6.com/orlpn/news/stories/news-187947320030109-110148.html

  a bulldog-boxer mix named Patton http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20030109_2286.html

  Edited by - cassiline on 12 January 2003 1:7:57