How Police Deal With A Barking Dog Situation (shoot the dog dead)

KOTV News ^ | 6.9.04

[ambrose]

How Police Deal With A Barking Dog Situation

Many questions surfaced after a Bixby family's dog is shot. The News on 6 was first to tell you about Fluppy Sunday night.

The 6 year old golden retriever had to be put to sleep after a Bixby Police officer shot it three times. John and Cathy Benzinger say Fluppy was tethered to the fence in their backyard when police came out to answer an alarm call Saturday morning.

Police say Fluppy was barking and approached Officer Cory Forister, so he shot the dog. He says he had to protect himself. Bixby Police say the procedure for handling animals depends on the circumstance and are investigating.

News on 6 reporter Patrina Adger says officers often have run-ins with dogs. It can happen while serving search warrants or like in this case, answering burglary alarm calls. Tulsa Police officers have on occasion had to shoot a dog, so just what is this department's procedure for such cases?

Tulsa Police Corporal Jim Curran: "There have been several times I've been on calls where dogs have been involved. Some of them have been chained some haven’t.” Corporal Jim Curran has been with Tulsa Police for 17 years. For the last three years, he's been the department's assistant firearms instructor.

Curran says when police officers walk into an unknown area or backyard and are approached by a dog, whether it's a barking golden retriever or a barking pit bull, officers are trained to use deadly force if they feel their life is in danger. "However common sense rules if you're serving a search warrant and you know there's dogs there we have numerous different ways of taking care of the animals."

Curran says Tulsa Police officers carry pepper spray which can be used to fend off animals that are attacking, but if that doesn't work he says officers have to do whatever it takes to defend themselves, a decision that has to be made in an instant. "You don't have time it's a split second decision. If you can retreat you retreat if you can't then you can use any means necessary to protect yourself.”

Curran says even if an officer is approached by a dog that is tethered to a fence, the length of the cable or leash might not give that officer enough time to get away. "Dogs are gonna be able to run faster than I am and if that leads not long enough I might not be able to back up."

News on 6 reporter Patrina Adger has received lots of calls from people who have asked, 'Why didn't the officer just shoot the dog in the paw?" Curran says police officers are not trained to shoot to injure, but to shoot to kill and that means, aiming for "the center mass" which is the middle part of the chest. He says when dealing with a threatening animal, it's easier to shoot at a big target than a little target like a paw.

A review board will look over the evidence in the Bixby case Wednesday to determine what, if anything, should happen to the officer involved in Saturday’s shooting.

Source:

The News on 6

www.KOTV.com

[ambrose]

It is my understanding that 'cop shoots dog' stories are on the approved "list".

[ambrose]

i.e., look at my bookmarked articles... none of those were pulled.

[ambrose]

Police say Fluppy was barking and approached Officer Cory Forister, so he shot the dog. He says he had to protect himself. Bixby Police say the procedure for handling animals depends on the circumstance and are investigating.

We know how deadly Golden Retrievers can be.

[ambrose]

http://www.kotv.com/main/home/storiesPrint.asp?id=63415&type=tp

Bixby Family Questions The Police Shooting Of Their Dog

A Bixby family has questions as to why a police officer shot and killed their 6 year-old golden retriever.

John and Cathy Benzinger were not home when the police responded to an alarm at their house. They say their dog was tethered to the fence in the backyard. They say police told them, the dog approached Officer Cory Forister, barking loudly. They say Forister shot Fluppy three times.

One neighbor confronted the officer after she and her children heard the shots. Molly Hannigan: "I said, 'Did you just shoot their dog?' and he said, 'Yes. I didn't want to get bit."

Dog’s owner, Cathy Benzinger: "He's a big dog, he was 95 pounds but he's a golden retriever. He's not an attack dog."

The family put the dog to sleep because his injuries were too severe.

The News on 6 has made several attempts to contact Officer Forister. The Bixby Police Department's public information officer refused comment. Lieutenant Paul Tryon says he needs to review the case.

[ambrose]

ping.

[garandgal]

You took the words out of my mouth. Stories abound of people mauled by golden retrievers.

This officer seems to have serious decision-making issues.

Now awaiting the predictable "any dog can be dangerous" posts. Best to shoot before attempting to befriend, just in case. After all, the officer just wants to "go home to his family" without having been nipped at by a dog.

[Bluntpoint]

So I guess it is better to be tried by a jury of 12 mutts than to be carried in a casket by 6 pure breeds?

[Veracious Poet]

Another out-of-control LEO that shoots first and thinks (maybe) later.

I bet she gets an accomodation for a righteous shooting to boot.

This kind of stuff makes me nauseous.

[JRandomFreeper]

It's a training issue. The cops aren't trained to deal with dogs. Even mean and nasty ones. I'm glad the person lived. I wish the dog had lived. I hope the department decides to get some training for it's officers.

The first thing any officer or child needs to learn is that the human species is the most deadly of ALL the species. Dogs know that. They smell us everywhere, and we bring home SUVs loaded with chicken, beef, and pork thirty minutes after we left. For dogs, we're the uber-hunters.

Take the high road, and you never have to fear a dog.

/john

[ambrose]

Giving a dog a piece of meat is just as effective as pumping bullets into its skull...

[JRandomFreeper]

Another out-of-control LEO that shoots first and thinks (maybe) later.

Let me fix that....

Another out-of-controlUNTRAINED LEO that shoots first and thinks (maybe) later.

Of course, an untrained officer and an out-of-control LEO act similarly.

I keep thinking that maybe mad dogs, untrained cops, and out-of-control cops should be locked up until we determine if someone has rabies....

/john

[JRandomFreeper]

My dog won' take meat from anyone. Ever. Even me.

He's old and grumpy, and his food has to by dry food with a splash of veg oil, and tossed to make him eat. Not that he's spoiled or has bad teeth or anything...

/john

[musicman]

My wife and I have 4 Shih-Tzu's( two we planned on, adopted the other two as a pair) and they let us know when something
isn't "right", and defend it as such.


It sounds like this doggie was just protecting his yard (in
a tied-up position).IMHO , if the dog was "bad" enough to scare an "armed" LEO, it probably would have scared off
almost any person who had set off his owner's alarm.

....and the bad part is, the LEO's will probably get them
another "dog" to "replace" the one they killed, but the "replacement" will probably NEVER "replace" the one they "lost".

.....(I'd almost bet the shooter never owned a dog......
or IMHO, worse yet......is a CAT owner.....)

OK....asbestos suit firmly in place.....POST!!

[ActionNewsBill]

bump

[American in Israel]

According to department policy, the officer is given pepper spray to use first. If just walked in their backyard, then shot the dog without pepper spray then the officer is in question.

In my opinion, an officer that enters a back yard on a burglar call without seeing big dog and then panics and shoots it without seeing it is tied to the fence is an accident waiting to happen. Good thing it was not a dangerous kinder gardener playing cowboys and Indians in his own back yard with a (gasp) politicaly un-approved cap gun.

[baltodog]

I have worked as a volunteer with leader/companion dogs...the last time, about three weeks ago.

I mentioned to the trainer that there sure seemed to be alot of Golden Retrievers in his group.

He told it is because Goldies are working dogs. They are pacifists by instinct and rarely will go out of their way to attack/provoke/incite any trouble.

She told me that she has heard only one instance of a Goldie getting between its master and trouble.

On the other hand, here in Sedgwick County, Kansas, at the local animal shelter, pits are not allowed to be adopted out. When we went to adopt Balto, the handler there took us to the "pit room", about twenty cages with pits that were destined to die. Not a mean one in the bunch. They played with every pit in the group, and she discussed how it is so sad that a tiny handful of irresponsible dog owners is going to be the spark that eradicates a breed.

[FreedomPoster]

>>We know how deadly Golden Retrievers can be.

Especially when tied to a fence. Just damn.

[Delta 21]

The dog had to be put to sleeep after he was shot three times ! ? ! ? !

This cop (I know) doesnt know how to tell when or if he is being threatened or even what the right thing is to do about it if he was. What a idiot.

[Junior]

So, basically, a 200-pound human male, trained in life-and-death situations, is more afraid of a dog then say, your average jogger? When I'm out running, I'm often beset by dogs but I could care less. I'm bigger and meaner than they'll ever be and they know it. They bark but they keep their distance.