Posted on 04/04/2012 3:16:43 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Pembroke Pines Police say officer's actions justified in shooting of family dog
Pembroke Pines Police are defending an officer's shooting of a family's dog as family members and activists are planning to protest the shooting at city hall Wednesday.
The controversy surrounds the shooting of Baxter, a six-year-old Australian Shepherd, who died two weeks after he was shot by a Pembroke Pines Police officer.
Family members and their supporters are planning to protest the shooting at a "Justice for Baxter Rally" at Pembroke Pines City Hall at 6 p.m.
The incident happened the evening of Feb. 24, when Officer Nicholas Taber and police trainee Officer Daniel Sammarco responded to a call of a loose dog at a home in the 800 block of Southwest 171 Terrace in the Lido Isles development, according to a final review of the incident released by Pembroke Pines Police Wednesday.
According to the review, the officers found the door of the home wide open and saw the dog in a front window and a boy in an upstairs window.
Taber asked the boy to come downstairs so they could investigate the loose dog report, but as he came to the front door, the dog exited the home and charged at the officers, the review said.
According to police, the officers told the boy three times to control the dog, but the attempts to detain the dog failed. It started growling and showing its teeth and continued towards Sammarco.
When the dog lunged at Sammarco, the officer raised his foot to fight off the attack, the review said. Fearing for Sammarco's safety, Taber started shooting until the dog stopped attacking, police said.
A short time later, the dog's owner, Frank Jones-Gonzalez, arrived home and started screaming at the officers, the review said. Jones-Gonzalez rushed the dog to Cooper City Animal Hospital, where it was found to have been shot three times, in the right leg, chest and thorax, the review said.
According to the family, Baxter died from his wounds two weeks later.
"Officer Taber’s actions were consistent with the current policies and procedures of the Pembroke Pines Police Department," the review said. "Officer Taber’s actions were justified in preserving Officer Sammarco’s safety and well being."
According to the review, Taber had a clear field of fire with the ground and at no time were any civilians in danger.
The review also found that Jones-Gonzalez's dogs have been loose, unleashed and unsupervised several times in the past.
Neighbors told police that the dogs have been aggressive before and have even chased a woman and her child. Another neighbor said one of the dogs had lunged at him while he was walking on the sidewalk, the review said.
But the family tells a different story. According to a Change.org petition posted by the family, the officer fired his gun six times in front of their son who was about 18 feet away from Baxter, possibly putting him in danger.
"Why would an officer be more concerned about his partner’s boot than that of the safety of a thirteen year old child, not to mention the psychological horror he was inflicting upon the child by committing this act in his presence?" family member Allie Jones writes in the post.
The family also claims one of the officers told the teen "Come get your dog before I shoot him," and said the teen didn't see Baxter attack the officers or bite Sammarco's boot.
They also claim that after the shooting, one of the officers said "We don't need to wait to be bitten to shoot."
The family's petition has over 2,200 signatures.
Whuht evuh Danny....
I wonder why they don’t shoot cats?
Hey, go wash your mouth!
yeah.
Ping
Clearly it has become a national, unofficial policy to kill dogs when possible. Even when dogs have been put into a bathroom, the police will open the door to the bathroom, shoot the dog, then claim to have felt threatened by it.
I suspect that if a dog was put in a kennel, they would say they needed to search the kennel, open the door to let the dog out and shoot it, or just shoot it in the kennel.
The logic of doing this is convoluted at best, but amounts to local courts and laws agreeing that *any* dog is worth only $300 or less, and that if police have *any* justification for shooting a dog, whether or not it is a reasonable justification, it is acceptable, as dogs are *property*, and property has no rights, so no money in exchange for the dog’s life.
There is no legal recognition of trauma or psychological damage inflicted on children because of police terrorism of their family or killing of their dog.
However, over time this is building up enormous amounts of public anger at police. And this is a far greater threat to the police than any dog. At first, the public will eventually demand that police cease and desist, which they will refuse to do. Then they will demand that police be fired as individuals for such reckless endangerment and maliciousness.
Dog was defending it’s home. Dog was inside and the cops were wrong. Sorry but that was a bad shoot and those cops need some remedial training and a nice little trip behind the wood shed for some manners.
Cats are smaller and faster moving, and most cops can’t shoot worth #hit.
Along with a couple of rescue mutts, we live a 25 pound assault cat, which should give me the time to get one of the ARs into action.
Prolly...
I love these “cop shoots dog” threads, and typically I take the side that’s against the cop.
Because, typically, they shoot a dog in the course of some *other* police business. And sometimes it’s not even a dog at the house they’re falsely raiding, or whatever. And usually the dog isn’t really a threat.
But c’mon, yall —
1) The cop was responding to a LOOSE DOG call, for goodness sakes.
2) The dog charged the cop OUTSIDE — NOT inside — the home
3) The owner was present and couldn’t/wouldn’t control the dog
4) Another of the owner/occupants got in the cop’s face, complicating an already difficult situation
I have to take the cop’s side over the problem-causing yahoos on this one!
It's a SAFETY thing.
On a brighter note, police departments across the US can claim fewer ankle bites the past few years.
>> shot three times, in the right leg, chest and thorax... Baxter died from his wounds two weeks later.
TWO WEEKS LATER??!?
What was the cop packing? A B-B gun? ROFL
Because when a dog that small comes at you - raising your foot is about all it takes to prevent that leg from being bitten.
Which is to shoot the dog whenever possible.
Anyway, I'm glad the officer had a chance to give the rookie some good training.
Raising your foot against a dog does work. Watch the cop in this video do it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-Itfr_V424
As far as Texas goes, that may no longer be the case, based on a law that's been on the books for a century or so, but was recently invoked in a civil suit...
Its interesting that cops really started this policy of shooting the family dog shortly after they became more militarized with the formation of SWAT teams and carrying semi-autos instead of revolvers. It all part of the slow devolution from a free country to a tyranny.
In a dictatorship the populace fears and loathes the police as they are the primary enforcers of the regime. Just look at how police behave in third world dictatorships and you’ll see something very similar evolving here in America. The callous disregard of the common man on the street that is represented by shooting the family dog just kind of highlights what is happening.
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