Police considering charges against Oakland Raiders player accused of taunting K-9 officer

WPXI ^ | November 10, 2015

[21twelve]

Oh crap! I’m glad I’m not a lawyer - I read it as willful AND malicious. Well - I still would just give him a warning or a small fine AND give him a tour of the dog facilities.

[envisio]

My dogs are canine. All dogs are canine.

Officer = regular human officer.
K-9 officer = officer that is a K-9 (wordplay on canine)

K-9...from old movie series in the late 70s of superdogs.

[The_Media_never_lie]

He needs to be imprisoned immediately in order to save him from the PETA thugs.

[thackney]

K-9 officer = officer that is a K-9 (wordplay on canine)

I don't think you will find a police unit that declares the dog an officer.

What I see locally is we have K-9 units that are made up of an officer and a dog.

[Uncle Miltie]

Aha. Well, that’s rude. I don’t know about criminal.

[Ancesthntr]

I didn’t read the article, but I don’t really think that it is necessary.

Assuming that this Raiders player is, like many past and present Raiders players, a low-life dirtbag (and he may well be a paragon of virtue, but let’s assume he’s a bad guy for the moment), how is “taunting” an officer any kind of crime? I think that many of the police in this country have either been trained VERY badly, or have let their power go to their heads, or both - and this incident (assuming that the title of this article comes close to the truth) demonstrates this. That’s not to take away from the genuinely GOOD officers, the guys and gals out there putting their lives on the line daily to protect and serve the public - but there are many rotten apples who are spoiling the entire barrel.

I, personally, think that there needs to be a national conference for all or most police chiefs, at which the issue of really crappy officers abusing their power, and the effects of that on both public perception of the police and their willingness to cooperate with the police, is discussed...and a solution is looked for, found and implemented. Because if something like this isn’t done relatively soon, at the rate things are going the police are going to become incredibly ineffective because much of the public (esp. in high crime areas) simply won’t help them.

[Ancesthntr]

“willfully OR maliciously taunt, “

Willfully meets the criteria for the crime.

Doesn’t have to be both willful and malicious.

---

Uh, the statute refers to taunting the DOG, not the OFFICER...and the title is clear that the OFFICER was taunted. The statute is clearly inapplicable - and if the officer can’t deal with a little taunting, maybe he/she should look for work somewhere else.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

“That’s completely ridiculous terminology.”

No, it isn’t. K-9 dogs are considered to be ‘officers’.

[Hot Tabasco]

Not much info at the link....but from I read, it appears the thug was taunting the dog.

I would have loved to see the thug taunt my dad's shepherd........LOL!

[Hot Tabasco]

Provoking an animal, a dog, come on. . .

What's the purpose in provoking any animal, let alone a trained K-9?

I'm sure the football thug would have had a come-to-Jesus moment if the handler would have released the dog...........

No sympathy from me........Unleash the dog!

[chrisinoc]

“Title 18
§ 5511.2. Police animals.
(a) Illegal to taunt police animals.—It shall be unlawful for any person to willfully or maliciously taunt, torment, tease, beat, kick or strike a police animal. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this subsection commits a felony of the third degree.”

Looks like a poorly written law that the police are using. I am thinking the law would apply while it is being used in investigating a crime, not during a football game.

The player is lucky he wasn’t taunting my dogs on the street. He’d have 200 pounds of German shepherd on him and I would make sure the dogs were defending me in self defense.

[vpintheak]

How utterly pathetic on the officers part. I am all for police, but this is just dumb.

[drpix]

"Offending a dog.."

The headline, the article and the poster you responded to all use the word "taunt."

Since you know the difference between "taunt" and "offend," why do you make the dishonest switch?

Note: Police dogs do NOT play with strangers.

[Farmer Dean]

“The leash slipped right out of my hand.”

[thackney]

Looks like a poorly written law that the police are using. I am thinking the law would apply while it is being used in investigating a crime, not during a football game.

K-9 units do patrol type work, not just investigation after the crime. In my opinion, the law exists to prosecute someone that tries to prevent the dog from performing his job.

I doubt they will bring charges. They may use the media on the issue to try to get the team or NFL to apply a civil penalty to stop bad press.

Or they may just drop it from here, after bringing it to more people's attention of the criminal nature of the act.

[Farmer Dean]

My Rottweiler would go into berserker mode,He’s only done that once,and I have to admit it scared me a little bit too.

[TexasCajun]

15 Yard penalty -- Taunting

...or just let the K-9 handle it!

[Scrambler Bob]

Illegal to taunt police animals.... commits a felony of the third degree.
= = =
Well, human police officers are animals, too.
-
Felony????
-
I thought flipping off an ‘officer’ was free speech.
But ‘taunting’ a police animal is a felony???

[Scrambler Bob]

if he had meowed at the dog...
= = =

A competent dog would be bi-lingual.

[Wolfie]