Thank you, very helpful information you have given, I appreciate it!
2 DUI's....so some intereaction with police.......and maybe he was aggressive towards them during those arrests and just wasn't charged but made them leary of him? See how we really don't know the facts behind it all?
My point in the matter was only that you can't just go on reports of what you hear from news sources, etc. Often it is twisted around to only report a bare fact and leave out information that wouldn't make it interesting. Did that work long enough to know! And the whole issue of the dog being in a cage.......
we weren't there to really know. And honestly, in that situation, if I go into a house on that situation, it's hard to say how I'd react, even with full "SWAT" armour on. We don't know if it growled or acted aggressive, because it wasn't seen on video to determine and of course the guy who owned it isn't going to give an 100% accurate report on what was going on because everything we see is seen through our eyes, what doesn't appear aggressive to him since he owns the dog, may appear that way to others.
And one point i read about not doing these raids when kids are home....um, then the people will make a point to start having kids around them at all times to avoid it. They aren't dumb!
Have you watched the video yet? Please do, it may help makes things a little bit clearer.
The video was taken by the SWAT team. You see them outside the house, in full swat gear, they break down the door. Run in, announce and shoot the dog within the first 5 seconds of them gaining access.
The dogs where not near the owners at any time. It is about a couple of minutes into the video when you hear the suspect ask the police "Did you shot my dog?" He becomes extremely upset as does his wife and child, who are sitting against a wall, mother holding her son, as they cry. The suspects voice breaks and he attempts to hold back tears as he asks them why they would do that.
The dogs are not seen on tape at any time.
My main problem with this whole cluster.......is the complete ineptitude of the police department from beginning to end.
1-The acted on an anonymous tip. As I said before, this tip came in from a nosy neighbor "who saw something suspicious". The neighbor did not purchase anything, nor did they see an actual drug transaction take place.
For all they knew this could have just been some neighbor who was mad at them because their dog barked to much, or they didn't mow their lawn often enough or their son tromped through their flowers. You just don't know and neither did the police. This just might have been the neighbors idea of "payback" for some slight.
2-The police did no surveillance. They did not attempt to purchase drugs from this man or at this location. There was no investigative work done at all on this case. They simply took the word of some random person on the phone and ran with it. THAT IS A SERIOUS PROBLEM!!!! It makes the police out to be some amped up gung ho cops who can't wait to throw on their swat stuff so they can bust down doors and play like it's a real live Call of Duty video game or something.
3-They sat on the warrant for days!!! Supposing that this was some drug dealer they ran a serious risk of losing the evidence by sitting on the warrant. Bad police work all the way around.
4- The police altered the video tape prior to giving it to the family. The ONLY reason they would have done this is to cover their own butts. Looks like the Columbia police department has learned how to tamper with and alter video tapes. Makes you wonder what else they have tampered with.
5- This was a warrant that should have been served in another way. This person was not a violent offender, he was not attempting to allude the police in any way, he was not wanted for a violent crime. He had no previous charges that would have alluded to him as being violent or aggressive to police. If this had been someone who was wanted for murder, or bank robbery, or kidnapping or something major that, then I could and would support them in what they did. For this though? No, absolutely not.
There was no mention made of any fire arms being found on the premises, but since he was not charged with the unlawful possession of a firearm, then I guess we can assume that they did not at least find any illegal firearms in the home. If he was a "big time" dealer, as you said, guns probably would have been present.
Maybe he was out of product, but where was the serious paraphernalia that you would find in a drug dealers home? Mainly the scale and the baggies?
All they found was a bowl with some residue and a misdemeanor amount of weed. In MO, 35 grams and under is a misdemeanor. That would be just under 1 1/4 ounces. That is a personal use amount, not a dealer amount.
Sounds like the Columbia SWAT team needs a reality check. Lets hope that this gave it to them.
It was a shot family pet - that happened to be a Pit Bull - that the home owners have said was caged, who - because of the cluster funk of this entire thing, I believe. You never see the Pit Bull, yet you do see the Corgi, so I tend to believe it was indeed, caged. It doesn't matter - they shoot immediately upon entering - and again - *watch the video* - you'll see (and hear) this. 
