Posted on 10/25/2014 6:29:14 AM PDT by EBH
A video emerged on social media late last week that appears to depict a Texas cop killing a 7-month-old dog in cold blood. Captured from the body cam of Cleburne police officer Kevin Dupre, the 22-second clip shows him pointing his gun at a pair of pit bulls wandering loose through a residential neighborhood. After making a series of apparent kissing noises to get the attention of one of the dogs, Maximus, Dupre opens fire on the animal, shooting him three times...
Within 72 hours, a Facebook page demanding “Justice 4 Maximus” topped 10,000 followers and a petition demanding Dupre’s badge surpassed 50,000. The officer was placed on paid administrative leave, pending further investigation. A group claiming to be Anonymous, the radical hacker collective, released a video vowing to unleash repeated cyber attacks against the Cleburne Police Department until Dupre was behind bars.
While the outrage and anger stirred when police shoot and kill our furry friends is nothing new, it’s beginning to reach a fever pitch on the Internet. Thanks to a growing network of virtual watchdogs and activists, nearly every dog gunned down by police can now attract national attention and unleash a torrent of criticism. There are more than 200 Facebook groups devoted to dogs shot by cops across the country, with hundreds of thousands of supporters.
The first real test for the burgeoning movement will come Saturday, when these bereaved pet owners, dog lovers and animal rights activists take to the streets in all 50 states. Rallying under the banner of Freeze Don’t Shoot, they will hold protests in front of state capitols to demand that law enforcement agencies provide better animal training for their officers.
“People are downright frickin’ angry, and they want police to stop shooting family pets.”
(Excerpt) Read more at vocativ.com ...
Must be in response to Ferguson, Missouri.
“...a pair of pit bulls wandering loose through a residential neighborhood...”
And when those same dogs mauled and killed another dog, or a toddler, they’d be yelling, “Dem Cops ain’t protectin’ us!”
So torn on this issue. Hope I never have to shoot a domestic dog. Took out a woodchuck with a shovel, once. But he had it comin’!
>> a pair of pit bulls wandering loose through a residential neighborhood
Give this officer a citation for a job well done!
While they’re at it, maybe the cops could find and plug the irresponsible bastards that let their killer mutts run loose in a residential neighborhood. That would help solve the long term problem.
Guess Zuckerberg thinks that America doesn’t hate cops enough. But I’ll bet Zuck’s bodyguards are armed.
I’d just like to ask did you even go look at the video?
No, I didn’t.
I don’t think it’s too much to ask cops to use a little discernment and not shoot every dog on sight.
I’ve seen enough videos to know that too many cops will shoot dogs because they like to shoot something.
I didn’t look at it either. I read the description, and knew I couldn’t stand to see it actually happen. I did follow the page, though. I saw a photo montage recently of dogs shot to death by cops. Some were so tiny, just cute little mites. Others were barely more than puppies. Some—make that many—were shot in their own yards, some in their own houses. They were trying to do their job, and got killed for it.
Why only in the past few years this massive spike in dogs being shot to death? Cops didn’t used to kill family dogs nearly as often. Something is just not right.
A few weeks back I was helping a friend at an estate sale. I was out in the backyard spraying for wasps. I could hear some dogs behind the fence in the neighbors back yard jumping on the fence. I did not think anything of it until they broke through the fence and all three came at me. I turned and sprayed each of them in the face with the wasp spray. That stopped them dead in their tracks. I think it was just the shock of the liquid hitting them, they were all pit bull mixes but one was all pit bull. That one was literally licking his lips. He started to come at me and the other ones were right behind him. I was out of spray and threw the can behind them. They went after the can for about two seconds then turned back to me. I’ve been in some interesting situations and don’t scare easily. Plus I’m all muscle and could have maybe handled one dog but these three put the primal fear in me. I knew I could not run as the leader of the pack charged at me then backed up then charged close. That’s when I pulled out my .380 and put a round right in front of his front paws in to the ground. He turned and ran back to the fence and the other two followed. This gave me time to get in the back door and close a burglar bar gate. By then they had turned around, ran across the yard and we’re trying to get at me through the gate. Those animals would have done a great deal of damage to me if they had got a hold of me.
I’ve never experienced anything like that. The cops and animal control were called and they all told me they would have shot these particular dogs and I was in my legal rights to have killed them all. The animal control lady was looking over an 8ft fence at these dogs and the full bloodied pit was jumping so high at her it’s head was popping over the top of the fence.
After that experience and after listening to the animal control gals stories and the stories from the cops I fault nobody that puts a round in to this particular devoid type of animal.
I guess enlisting the aid of animal control is obsolete.
Rallying under the banner of Freeze Don’t Shoot,
...
Sounds like the same old anti-cop agitators.
To me it was pretty upsetting, even more that the officer chose to video it from his aiming perspective. Two young dogs in high grass in a wide area behind houses (I’d guess 50-100 ft. separation between backyard fences.
After tsking a couple of times to get the pup to look at him he shoots three in a row. The other young one startles and then approaches the dead one and yelps kind of softly. It then sits and this bastard aims and begins to repeat the process, but the video is cut at the point where he’d fire.
I know a lot of people are automatically predisposed to feeling the ooga booga condemnation of Pit Bulls and I can readily understand that. I ALSO could envision this same officer being called in by someone to address a child/teenager addled on drugs and not responsive to police commands. This guy would shoot your kid given little (if any) provocation, frankly.
And barring any verified response from that police department that the officer was called in after a child was mauled by these two young dogs, my impression is that this creep is a RAMBO who just wanted to shoot something. A monster.
About two weeks ago there was a Boy Scout selling popcorn in my neighborhood that was attacked by a pit bull!
I’m sure if someone saw cobra snake slithering through the streets, somebody could argue the snake was being peaceful but I think it would still be a good idea to kill it.
I guess enlisting the aid of animal control is obsolete.
...
In the Houston case, animal control was called by the police. The dogs in question had trapped someone in a car, which is why the police were called in the first place.
That was my thought too, frankly. Those dogs didn’t run, they didn’t growl or threaten that I could see. I could see where they’d easily been captured by animal control.
I'd call that a good shoot. Anyone who allows their pit bulls OF ANY AGE to wander through a neighborhood gets what they get. In this case, the pit bull being shot. Personally, I've no use for pit bulls. They're dangerous animals, any responsible individual would never allow them around small children, and would keep the damn' things locked up.
They looked like they were wagging their tails.
According to the linked article/video, this was a police officer from Cleburne TX. What does it have to do with Houston?
That’s what I saw too. I’m not a Pit Bull apologist or owner. I can only relate how I felt when I saw this video, and any exigent mitigating circumstances aside, I do not see why animal control was not there and doing what they’re trained for. This was just a sadistic video for his cop buddies.
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