Police shot family dog as they were pulled over, did anyone see it on the Today show?

[Saffron]

I can only say that I agree 100% with Doctor P. I'm too ******* disgusted to say anything else.

 

[Disney-Kim]

All I have to say is that is was the most inhumane sad thing I have seen in a long time. The dog was wagging his tail and was not in an attack stance.
I really feel that the police officer over reacted. this was a family with their 2 dogs in the car....not felons with attack killer dogs.

I sure hope something comes out of it for the family. All I have to say is imagine that was you and your family and you saw your beloved pet shot in the head 2x !! with a shotgun at close range.

so unbelievably sad.

ok....thats all I have to say. I am an animal lover and I think this was just wrong.

 

[nkjzmom]

How frightening! I can only imagine being taken from my car, along with my DH, required to kneel and being handcuffed...not to mention my child. I wonder what the officers would have done with us...we have 4 children....do they pull them all out too?

What confusion, humiliation, fear for that family.....and confusion, questions, and fear for the officers also. While I don't know much about the full story, it cannot be an easy job. I imagine being a police officer is much like being a soldier in that you have to harden yourself to many things.

We recently had something happen here involving a game warden who tried to pull a young man over for speeding. The young man noticed it was a game warden and so didn't stop. The GW caught up to the car at a gas station, asked the man to get out...during all of this the young man reached into his car to get his wallet and the warden shot him right in the back. He thought he might be going for a gun. Needless to say it's been huge news here.

With all of the terrible things that CAN happen in situations like these, how do we keep control, yet maintain safety and freedom????

 

[Towncrier]

I agree that this was an unfortunate event. I feel very badly for the family as well as for the officers involved. But in response to Disney-Kim's comment, how did the officers know that they weren't felons with attack killer dogs?

If they knew now what we all know, thing would have turned out much differently. Hindsight is indeed 20-20.

 

[Doctor P]

If you see the video, and you put it in the context of the weapons training people get, this was either a major show of incompetence or a major show of Ramboism. The police have a very, very tough job and one that I would not want for a minute, but we pay them and train them to avoid this very thing. That's why it bothers me so much.

 

[Saffron]

But this is not all police officers and it's not even a representation of the officers in that particular department.

I don't think anyone was trying to say it was, Miss Jasmine. As a matter of fact, I think everyone is saying that they are very supportive and appreciative of the police in our communites and police in general.

Towncrier, to answer you, the police didn't know what they were up against. I think they had every right to handcuff the family in order to proctect themselves from harm.

With that being said -- why wouldn't the officers close the car door so the dogs wouldn't get out! The kid was so nervous he left the door open and when he saw what he did, he asked over and over again for someone to shut it!

And -- it's apparent in the video that the dog was NOT a killer dog. There was plenty of time to make a judgement of whether or not to use killer force. It was major, major over reaction by that one man! Maybe he has an irrational fear of dogs, in which case, he shouldn't be on the streets as a police officer where he is bound to come into contact with friendly, loving family pets! I hope he loses his job!

Another thing I don't understand about the whole thing is this: a wallet fell off the roof of a car. Why would anyone think that was cause for suspicion?????

 

[whirlsy]

I bet we find out that the officer was only 20 something, limited experience and he will have a few days suspended.

 

[Grog]

I'd imagine he'd be afraid to make any kind of move under those circumstances. I'm not sure my knees would even hold me up.

It's a very scary situation to be in. About ten years ago I was driving through Austin with some friends (four of us in two cars). My friends in the first car were pulled over for speeding (one of them was a Deputy Sherrif in Louisiana). We, in the other car, pulled of the road about 30 yards ahead to wait for them. Looking in the review mirror we saw the Police Officer draw his weapon and my friends getting out of the car with thier hands up. My deputy friend had placed his off duty weapon under the seat and it had slid forward and the officer that stopped them had seen it and immediatly treated the situation as a felony stop.

Three more cars arrived and two cops ran up to the car I was in. One looked in my window and asked if we were with the other two. I said yes, and found myself looking down the barrel of a pistol about three feet from my head. When you are in that situation, a 9mm barrel looks as big around as a 55 gallon drum. They handcuffed us and we were like that for about ten minutes while they verified my friends identity. they then apologized and let us go. I don't hold any ill feelings as they were just doing their job and they did it in a very professional manner, but yes, it was terrifying looking down the barrel of that weapon even though I knew I had done nothing wrong. I can only imagine how much worse it was for this family.

During a felony stop, guns are drawn. Now why rifles??? That seems odd.

The poster may be refering to the shotguns. There was at least one other officer with one besides the one that did the shooting.

 

[WillyJ]

I saw the video, and I'll be more then happy to place blame. .

What that officer did was wrong, and both he and the police captain who released the "official" statement today are ******* liars.

The official statement released today said that the dog rushed the officer in a threatening manner and that officer thought it was a pitbull, and he yelled at the dog to get away and when it didn't, had no choice but to kill it.

That dog looked nothing like a pit bull- it was a medium sized setter type dog. The dog got out of the car, sniffed around and trotted up to the one officer, wagging it's tail. It was under no definition a "threatening rush" and it looked no more like a pitbull then a poodle does.

You can also plainly hear the family asking the officers to close the door so the dog wouldn't get out and being ignored. . . and then when the dog gets out of the car you can clearly hear the family calling the dog to come to them. . but as the dog comes towards the officer and he steps aside and shoots it, you cannot hear him say anything. .


. . and after the cops finally figured out the whole thing was a mistake and told the family they could go on their way, you can hear the father on the video say; "Why did you have to shoot my dog?" The officer says, "What do you want me to do about it now?" And the father says; "I want it to have never happened!! And why you are grinning?" He then points to the officer that shot the dog and says, "and why is that guy laughing? He killed my dog and he's laughing. . "


We have a very basic, constitutional right against unreasonable search and seizure. . . I don't feel like those cops pulling that family over, using a bullhorn to make all them get out of the car and kneel by the side of the road, making them kneel down, cuffing them like they were the Dillinger gang, ignoring their polite requests to close the door, then killing their dog for absolutely no reason and laughing about it; all because another motorist saw their wallet fall off their car and "thought" there "might" have been crime committed is in no way reasonable and goes far beyond an "error in judgement" in my opinion. . .



Today the governor of Illinois pardoned 6 men on death row because after investigating their convictions, he felt there was sufficient proof that their "confessions" were beat out of them by the arresting officers. . .

Police do have a tough and often unappreciated job, and those that do it with professionalism, common sense, and reasonable restraint have my full support. . .

But I no more support a cop who breaks the law or kills a family dog then laughs and lies about it just because they wear a badge then I would support a priest who buggers little boys just because he wears a white collar. . no one is above the law or above treating people decent

 

[Tulirose]

Oh geez! I have heard nothing about this. How very very sad. I'm really at a loss for words. I don't think I want to see this video.....

 

[Kallison]

Amen Willy J -- you said it all!

Sounds like a major egotistical power trip. I hope these two officers get their jobs taken away. They should not be in charge of protecting and upholding the law. I'm glad the media is bringing it to our attention, I'm sure if it was up to their department it would be swept under the rug and fast.

 

[WebmasterAlex]

The tape is crystal clear. There was no justification.

I bet we find out that the officer was only 20 something, limited experience and he will have a few days suspended.

Nope... it was an older guy with lots of experience who had the guts to go on TV and try to justify his actions, only making himself look like a bigger fool in the process. Then he started whining he was getting telephone death threats. Since he is so good with a shotgun it shouldn't be a problem.

 

[bridgettesmom]

There is absolutely no justification to what this absent minded officer did.Seriously,I watched the video right before I went to bed last night and I could not fall asleep until 5 am!!!!! I gave this a lot of thougnt....we have 2 dogs which we take with us all the time.They are the friendliest and most adorable dogs,BUT, if we get stop over , get handcuffed and told to get on our knees while been yelled at I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that my two sweet princesses would at least bark desperately trying to protect us!!!..for them to get shot for acting on their instincts it would just break my heart...NO,I do not feel bad for this officer...this dog was not holding a gun at him .. if it was a pitbull or a rotweiller with rabies like white foam trying to attack him .....Yes, he had every right to defend himself, but, this is UNFORGIVABLE.

 

[Doctor P]

Trying to justify it made it even worse. I think I could accept it and consider it water over the dam if the officer or officers said, "you know, it was a very high stress situation and we really did not know what we were up against given the information we had. I really regret what happened, but in the heat of the moment I made a judgement that was wrong and I really regret killing that dog." Mistakes do happen, but this seems to just be getting worse and worse by the minute!

 

[Pooh93]

I have heard nothing about this.

I wish I hadn't. (people were talking about it at work yesterday) Haven't seen it officially on the news and don't plan too. Upsets me way too much.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

Originally posted by WillyJ

. . and after the cops finally figured out the whole thing was a mistake and told the family they could go on their way, you can hear the father on the video say; "Why did you have to shoot my dog?" The officer says, "What do you want me to do about it now?" And the father says; "I want it to have never happened!! And why you are grinning?" He then points to the officer that shot the dog and says, "and why is that guy laughing? He killed my dog and he's laughing. . "

Now I did not hear this part & I just cannot believe that this is TRUE. Something is very wrong & I hope they get to the bottom of it.
I hope the family gets restitution!
@#$%^&*!

 

[Mermaid02]

I haven't seen the video and I don't want to. I trust Willy's interpretation. That "officer" should lose his job... and any benefits that came with it. To think "we" gave a GUN to such a trigger happy hothead scares the heck out of me. He's getting death threats... how scary for him and his family, BUT he's pretty darn scary too.

 

[Disneylvr]

Originally posted by Saffron
I can only say that I agree 100% with Doctor P. I'm too ******* disgusted to say anything else.

Ditto!

 

[Disney-Kim]

Towncrier and others: who said that hindsight is 20/20. You are so right.
I heard the 911 call on the news and I was just surprised that the assesed this to be a car of robbers with so little justification (IMHO).
I guess I am naive and just think that a family with dogs in the car over the holidays just didn't seem like robbers/felons. but I know there are bad people in the world.

the whole thing is just sad. I am just glad they did not shoot anyone in the family. But it sure broke my heart to see the video footage.

 

[chell]

From the interview we heard yesterday even city officials agree that a felony stop was not necessary by the info the officers had received. It sounds like lots of heads are going to roll over this one! I know officers have a difficult job to do, but they also go through training on how to handle stressful situations. If the guy was that trigger happy he should not be allowed to be a police officer any longer!

The main think I keep thinking about it is that I'm sure glad it was not a small child that came out and ran towards them!