# trigger happy cops



## thegoodstuff (May 12, 2010)

:rant:


This poor couple lost their eight year old rottie named Bullet when three police officers entered the home and shot the dog dead with their .40 cal service weapons. They fired 7 times, striking the dog 5 times. The owner states Bullet was not an aggressive dog. There is some video from the owner's home surveillance video showing Round Rock PD entering the unoccupied house with weapons drawn. It then shows them leaving. 

These Keystone Cops panicked and instinctively started shooting. Why? *Big dog bad, shoot big dog*. Like so many people, they have been conditioned by the hysteria that the media cant let go of. When they see pits, rotties, GSDs and even labs its 'shoot first, use brain later'. We''ll never know what actually happened, but there is strong suspicion it is different from from the story the cops told. Apparently, they changed their story once already. From witness reports, there was a 3 second period in which all 7 shots were fired. I dont believe just _one_ .40 round wouldnt at least slow down a large dog (assuming it didnt end up in the wall), it can practically knock a man down. It sounds like there wasnt any thought at all; they were on auto pilot.

But I wasnt there.

How many people have an intense life long fear of dogs because they were bitten at age 10? Lets give them guns without screening them or giving them training on how to deal with dogs and using deadly force only as a last resort. Some of these cowboys dont even try to deal with the situation without skipping right to deadly force. Its been caught on video. And the shootings are always deemed as "legitimate" by the shooting review board. In this case, the only input was from the POs on the scene. Of course it was ruled "justified", it was just the three musketeers and no witnesses. There was an incident in Missouri in 2010 where a police officer shot and killed a restrained non threatening dog. The entire incident was recorded by the dash cam in the police car. The officer faced no disciplinary action. Im not gonna post the link to the story but if youre curious just Google _Missouri cop caught on tape shooting restrained dog_ There is video in the story, I didnt watch it- just the 2 line description knocked the wind out of me. 

And BTW, WTF happened to tasers? A taser can incapacitate a 250 lb man, a 150 lb dog is no match. 

IMO, law enforcement personnel are too quick to use deadly force. Then they get backed up by their departments. Its is becoming a trend. Appropriate training is a no brainer. Its the 21st century, dogs aren't just 'dogs' anymore. They are regarded as family members. Where is the safest place for my dog, especially when Im at work? _In the house_. You dont want your dog wandering the neighborhood lest someone reports an off leash dog and your local PD shows up and guns him down because, well, he's big. 


These gung ho cops could easily have handled this situation differently. This should have been the first clue.











Dont come into _my_ home, unsolicited, and murder one of _my_ family members.











Related story: Police Officers Who Shoot Dogs


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## LProf (Nov 12, 2013)

Agree. There have been far too many similar incidents lately.


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## NutroGeoff (May 15, 2013)

Oh wow. That's terrible. It's amazing how people react like that.


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## thegoodstuff (May 12, 2010)

This sh!t has got to stop , its becoming an epidemic. 

"They are investigating the incident before they issue any further statement." Anyone wanna take a guess what the outcome will be?


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## NutroGeoff (May 15, 2013)

Serious. They aren't going to out one of their own like that. So ridiculous.


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## thegoodstuff (May 12, 2010)

*Score 1 for the little guy*



> “The only thing I’m going to do is shoot it. I do not like dogs. I don’t do snares. I don’t do dogs. I’ll shoot the <expletive> thing” and “I’m gonna shoot it anyway.”


 That, good people, is a statement made by one of Detroit's finest, caught on dash cam video. The same officer of the law who's duty it is to protect and serve the public. That is a brutal, ignorant, storm trooper mentality, essentially the same mentality some folks had somewhere in Europe 70 years ago. Metaphorically, this N*** f*** shouldve been skinned alive. 

Lawsuit Against City, Police Claims Dog Was Shot 15 Times Over Several Hours Â« CBS Detroit

The suit also claims that “it is unreasonable to show up for a barking dog complaint with an express premeditated intent to shoot her". Yeah, I'll go with that. Cant wait to see how this turns out. Good luck Brittany.




2012 - Police Officer Shoots Chained Dog Responding to Wrong House

The question was "why did the police officer shoot the dog". I think the best answer to that question is because he knew all he had to say was he "felt threatened" and he knew he would face no consequences because, well...

...he _"felt threatened"_









Holy crap! _The dog was on a chain._ WTF? This was fallout of the media perpetuated hysteria about pit bulls - "Big dog bad, shoot big dog - hehe, they'll back me up down at HQ." Oh, and BTW Officer Einstein, the home you are responding to is the one across the street. The jury awarded the family $330,000.











How much of a head start does the bear get?


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## NutroGeoff (May 15, 2013)

Wooooooow. That's so ridiculous. I can understand not liking dogs or being afraid of dogs because of something that happened in a person's childhood or something, but that is going wag too far.


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## thegoodstuff (May 12, 2010)

*Credit where credit is due*

Two Arlington, TX Police Officers responding to a report of a "vicious dog" did the right thing. Instead of mindlessly executing the pit bull on the spot, they recognized that the dog was about as vicious as Winnie the Pooh. With a treat and a pat they got him into the car and took him to the animal shelter where he was reunited with his owner. Good job!

You gotta love people. The woman reportedly yelled to the officers that "a dirt-covered, white pit bull was chasing them in an “aggressive” manner. “This dog is so vicious, please get him,” one said." They know the magic words. *aggressive + dog + pit bull + vicious*. Using any of them in the same sentence when speaking to the police usually doesnt end well.

"The Arlington Police Department implemented mandatory training two years ago to help officers identify the difference between aggressive and non aggressive animals..."


Update
The same cop crossed paths with this dog again and ended up adopting him.


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## thegoodstuff (May 12, 2010)

*DeKalb cop resigns after shooting homeowner’s German Shepherd*

This cop shot someone's dog in their yard, then wouldnt let the owner leave the scene to get medical attention for his dog. 

“Officer Pitts stated the k9 ran towards his direction in an aggressive manner showing teeth and growling at him,” said the police incident report. “At this time Officer Pitts felt in fear of his life and discharged his duty weapon two times at the aggressive k9 to stop the threat.” 

Heard that somewhere before? Thats because the cop is _always_ "in fear of his life" and shooting at an "aggressive k9" displaying an "aggressive manner".










Using those phrases buys a ticket to a shooting review board findings that it was a legitimate use of force.

The owner said “I can understand the officer being surprised….He wasn’t belligerent at all. I think he was in shock more than anything else. *He kept saying, ‘I love dogs."* When I read that I felt empathy for the cop because I imagined myself in the same situation, having a 'knee jerk' reaction then suddenly realizing I just did something _really_ bad, that it was unnecessary and that I cant take it back...

OMG I love dogs. Very sad.


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## NutroGeoff (May 15, 2013)

Awww that's terrible. Poor lady that owned the dog. I can't believe this is happening so much!


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## Rvent (Apr 15, 2012)

I have a friend who had his 3 Pit Bulls shot by the Bristol PD, they were trying to apprehend a fugitive in the house next door, but they and the police dog entered the wrong yard and the PD dog was supposedly attack by my friends dogs, police shot all three of my friends dogs. 
Just recently there has been a big stirring going on here in town because a man shot his neighbors dog 5 times, he said he was protecting his chickens, which he is not suppose to have in the first place (zoning) He also said he thought it was a coyote, it was a husky (coyote look a like. hmmm) it was 6:30 pm (still light out) he has only an acre lot but couldn't see it was his neighbors dog.. hmmm... he shot the dog & then went to work, never bothered to go see what he shot to make sure it was dead. I don't know but it is a bit fishy to me, but ACO and TPD found no wrong doing on the part of the shooter. I guess no matter who you are it is ok to shoot other peoples dogs with no risk of consequence....
All I know is if someone, cop or not ever shoots one of my dog I will make sure it is the last dam thing they shoot, if it takes every penny I have!


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## thegoodstuff (May 12, 2010)

*It's OK For Someone To Kill Your Dog*



Rvent said:


> I have a friend who had his 3 Pit Bulls shot by the Bristol PD, they were trying to apprehend a fugitive in the house next door, but they and the police dog entered the wrong yard and the PD dog was supposedly attack by my friends dogs, police shot all three of my friends dogs.
> Just recently there has been a big stirring going on here in town because a man shot his neighbors dog 5 times, he said he was protecting his chickens, which he is not suppose to have in the first place (zoning) He also said he thought it was a coyote, it was a husky (coyote look a like. hmmm) it was 6:30 pm (still light out) he has only an acre lot but couldn't see it was his neighbors dog.. hmmm... he shot the dog & then went to work, never bothered to go see what he shot to make sure it was dead. I don't know but it is a bit fishy to me, but ACO and TPD found no wrong doing on the part of the shooter. I guess no matter who you are it is ok to shoot other peoples dogs with no risk of consequence....
> All I know is if someone, cop or not ever shoots one of my dog I will make sure it is the last dam thing they shoot, if it takes every penny I have!


I didnt find the Bristol story but I did find the Torrington story. "After Fatal Incident, Torrington Man Asks If It's OK For Someone To Kill Your Dog" That is friggin awful. All these stories are. There is a law that gets him off the hook, but "It does not specify that the dog must be on the shooter's property in order to kill it, or even that the shooter has to be protecting his or her own livestock." W T F ? Again, say the magic phrase and win a prize; Apparently "ah wuz pro-tectin mah ckickɘnz" works as well as "the K9 was acting aggressive and I feared for my life". As with cops, who knows what really happened - no witnesses. Thats when youre glad you spent all that money on those home surveillance video cameras with the night vision and the wide angle lenses. Gotcha....

Plain and simple, if someone shot my dog I would_ lose my shit _(the state of being pushed over the edge of sanity and having a complete and utter freak out or mental/emotional breakdown). The top of my brain would turn off, leaving only the cave man part of my brain in charge.

Whoa.


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## NutroGeoff (May 15, 2013)

That is so ridiculous. I can't imagine killing someone's dog no matter what. I don't understand why that is happening so much!


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