Posted on 06/27/2014 11:48:00 AM PDT by Altariel
Police spent much of Tuesday searching for a fugitive.
During the search West Virginia State Troopers and the Mason County Sheriff's Department said they had to shoot and kill a woman's dog.
Police spent almost 12 hours searching for Johnathon Jeffers, but with no luck. At one point during the search, police came out of the woods and onto Ginger Sweats’ property in Mason County. She has no ties to Jeffers, but was immediately caught up in the search when officers said they had to fire their guns.
Accompanied by the dog she has left, Sweat was still trying to come to terms with the loss of her beagle mix, Willy Pete. On Tuesday, police were searching the area where Sweat lives for a man who they said shot at them.
Sweat just happens to live in the search area, about seven miles outside of Milton. She said during the search, West Virginia State Troopers and Mason County Sheriff's Deputies came out of the woods onto her front yard, and that's when they shot her dog four times.
"The first time he tried to run. I don't think it hit him," she said. "They still continued to shoot him, and he eventually ran around to the side of my house, died and collapsed by my air conditioner."
Sweat said Willy Pete was her best friend, and that she tried to tell officers that the dog wasn't going to hurt anyone. However, West Virginia State Police Lieutenant Michael Baylous said the dog was a threat, and troopers did what they are trained to do.
"Try to avoid it, if possible, but the trooper who fired the shots, it's my understanding, waited until the very last second to fire that shot, in hopes that that animal would retreat," Baylous said.
The dog was sitting on a porch in the front of her house when the troopers came onto her property. Police said the dog started coming toward them. Sweat said the dog wasn't aggressive, but police said he was, and that they had to shoot.
"Many of us are dog lovers, but when it comes down to it, you absolutely have to put more value on the human life side of the equation than the side of the animal," Baylous said.
Troopers buried the dog behind the house. Sweat said her dog got her through a lot, and she is going to miss Willy Pete. She hopes that troopers think twice next time, before shooting an animal.
"I hit my knees when it happened, and begged the officer to do something," she said. "That was my best friend."
I guess this is not as bad as killing a man during a doghunt.
STILL....
“I’m just thinking we should arm UPS & FedEx drivers... it’s amazing any of those guys make it home every day!”
The drivers in my old hood were armed....with assault dog biscuits. They fired them off at random dogs sitting in yards. And you know what? They didn’t seem to have any problems when they delivered packages.
Funny. Maybe there’s a lesson there for police.
The owner states that the dog ran for the back of the house after the first shot! Where I come from, running away from something is retreating. Trooper 'Barney's 'hopes' ("...that that animal would retreat.") were met after this first shot, yet he continued to unload his gun into the dog! What part of that do you not understand?
I thank God that the cops in Calgary generally seem to 'have a clue', though the same cannot be said of the Toronto Police Service! Last year, they killed an obviously disturbed teenager armed with a knife , on a streetcar in downtown Toronto. They were 15 feet from the door of the streetcar, pointing their weapons at the kid, who was 10 feet inside the streetcar, calling the cop an "f---ing p---y" and apparently making lewd gestures with his private parts. I guess 'roid rage occurred in Const. James Forcillo and he shot the kid three times, waited five seconds (perhaps the kid was still moving, writhing in pain on the floor of the streetcar) and then fired six more shots. Then, after another 40 seconds, they Tasered him! One must admit though, the TPS is THOROUGH! Forcillo was charged with murder. The bad news is, it was likely a case of manslaughter, so he'll likely get off scot free!
Are there good cops? Yes, I think so, but so many that I've met are young 'roid fueled Rambo types who think that whatever they say MUST be ABSOLUTELY adhered to, OR ELSE; whether legal or not! (Incidently, Forcillo was part owner of a gym; SO connect the dots, folks!)
I think that one reason that the Calgary cops are generally not gun crazy is that the CPS has been recruiting police from the UK. 'Beat' cops over there, have to use their brains and brawn to arrest criminals, rather than just shoot or Taser them. They use their brains to talk a criminal into surrendering, or physically bringing them down, instead of just shooting them. I think it leads to better policing and few if any innocent canine deaths in Calgary.
Those pit chihuahuas are killers!
“So long as the “fear” excuse is tossed about, the problem continues.”
Oh, but it’s worse than that. At a certain point, revulsion at police shootings will result In a higher self defense standard being applied. Although in practice, it will only apply to non police.
“It’s counterproductive and it’s only serving to fan the tension,” Baylous said. “We have had several people responding to us in a very irrational way and we feel that it’s counterproductive to comment further.”
Interesting comment by the police. I guess those pat excuses of “feared for their lives” just aren’t cutting it anymore, eh?
The physical requirements needed to be accepted in to the State Police probably result in the typical recruit being 6’ to 6'2” with a weight of probably 175 to 225 pounds.
From the picture of the dog, I have to believe that it could not have been more than 40 pounds, max.
There are some dogs that can strike terror in the hearts of men; Dobermans, rottweilers, pit bulls, german shepards. Even if this dog launched itself into a full fledged assault on these troopers, they should have been able to subdue the dog without sustaining life threatening injuries. This story just highlights how the job of law officer has been transformed in such a short time.
*Every* dog is in the pay of de ebils.
I would imagine to some people who have been adversely affected by these thugs, "on their own" would be something they would desire, instead of what potentially could happen to them.
Great post. This has also been a great thread for flushing out some really drooling bootlickers.
“I would have killed every cop involved or died trying.”
Sounds like you would be put down.
But...but...but....
The Spitz breeds are innocent.
They’ve told me so.
Finally, an admission of what we all knew to be true...
I’d send more money too, but we need several thousand to participate at the lesser price. The cop could be taken to small claims court and even if they won, it would hassle the police to think again about shooting just for the hell of it.
Maybe and maybe not. I’d take my chances with a jury. One thing is for sure. There would be a few cops who wouldn’t be around to draw their pensions.
Now that I see a full photo, yes, the original photo looked more like a pit bull.
I have had four beagles, two on hand right now. I know what they look like.
If my child was lost, would I want the cops to look everywhere they could think to look? Yes.
Just hope the police don't, "feel threatened," when they find your child, or things could take a really bad turn.
Frankly, if my child was lost, I would much rather my dog look everywhere he could think to look.
Arlington Police Officer's Response to Pit Bull Call Goes Viral
Can give kudos to the cop and the police force at the Arlington Police Department's FB Page
And the happy ending...Yeah! Animal Services located Jeffery's owner, Antonio, this morning.
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