Perps? Stop using TV jargon. TV police use the word perps.
The officer will get two days off. That’s it.
This was an accident. You cannot charge a person of any walk of life with murder, manslaughter or really any other crime without mens rea, or a culpable state of mind.
However, citizens have no authority or duty to enter another persons property to investigate crime or disorder, police officers do, as long as they can articulate the needs to do so. If a citizen walked onto another’s property, armed and uninvited, and shot a dog that was responding to a threat, then they would be in the commission of a crime and would likely face charges. You do that here in Missouri, and a homeowner can shoot you under Castle Doctrine, and will most likely be free afterwards.
However, the dogs owner should be sued as well but in all likelihood has no money.
Did you miss the part about the officer already being bit? What sane person would allow a demonstratively dangerous animal bite them again if they had the means to defend themselves?
Are you as flipping outraged when a inner city ne’er do well guns down an innocent kid? Look up Jamyla Bolden. She is one of dozens of kids in just my city alone that has been shot, not by police, but by many of the same “people” that think it is cool to have pits.
And for those who would complain about the shot accuracy, remember, the silhouettes you shoot at don’t run at you from a surprise cover position at thirty miles an hour.
One officer I supervised had a similar scenario when a pit came out of cover from the front of car and moved on him aggressively. As he was backing up to retreat the pit charged him and he was forced to shoot. Three rounds, two hits, the third skipped off the driveway and embedded itself in the house. The pit expired at his feet.
The homeowner was sad about the dog but glad the officer was not injured. I was glad the officer did not get a career ending bite, not only because we would lose a good officer, but the state would be on the hook for his early retirement and medical bills for life.
I don’t blame the kid, who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, I don’t blame the police who were only protecting themselves, and certainly did not want the kid to be shot, and I can’t blame a dog who is protecting his turf.
It’s called a tragedy and no one needs or will go to jail. The dogowner needs to be punished in civil proceedings.
Well said.
Involuntary manslaughter means failure to take the precautions needed. It is too early to say there should not be a trial for that.
The trouble came when it became a public idea that there should be an Arms Bearing Class of people, and it isn’t We The People.
Now, suddenly these guys are under some kind of Sacred Arms Bearer First Responder Immunity Umbrella.
The Founding Fathers would have laughed at that.
If I thought it possible my shot would hit a person, I’d sooner let the dog bite me if not fatally.
What person would? Perhaps with awareness of surroundings, a person who actually had a heart.
Your rhetoric does not succeed in running away with larger moral questions.
The fellow faced losing a career — the person shot, losing his life.
People WILL remember such excuse making, and opinion will turn. And yeah, they can molon your labe very easily today.
If you are aiming at a dog and hit a kid in the chest (assuming that is what happened here) it is not a tragedy, it is a crime.
I think there is probably something missing in this story though - perhaps the kid ran into the line of fire or the dog was attacking the kid. We may never know.
If you decide to discharge your firearm, you are responsible for that round - this cop should be subject to the same penalties as you or I - at the very least a negligent manslaughter charge. Let a jury sort out the merits of the case.
1. An innocent, unwarned young man was killed because police officers chose to use pistols to kill a dangerous dog. Anyone who ever uses a pistol or a rifle knows that the lethal range of projectiles fired by those weapons extends miles.
2. Almost everyone who knows even the most basic fact about firearms would choose a shotgun, loaded with birdshot to engage a dangerous dog in situations where bystanders are in danger. Number 7 1/2 to 9 birdshot loses energy very rapidly past 40 meters to the point where it is harmless.
Negligent homicide is negligent homicide whether it is committed by a civilian or a cop.
You do not understand what involuntary manslaughter or negligent homicide is.
Anyway, how does shooting at a pit bull end up striking a human in the chest?
How do you shoot at a dog and accidently hit a kid?
That’s CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE and you or I would be arrested, charged, and probably convicted. But not a boy in blue.
What about involuntary manslaughter here? If the officer was "supposed" to be shooting a dog, and somehow the child "got in the way", that doesn't require mens rea, does it?