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.
You’ve hit the nail on the head.
I changed my attitude toward the cops a couple of years ago and now regard them as a menace to be avoided if at all possible.
Well, there you have it. At least now we have it on the public record. It's in the manual. Step 1: shoot the family dog. Step 2: anything else.
Very interesting point.
Didn’t the Nazis require some sort of ritual for their elite SS operatives where they raised a puppy from the start of their training and then were required to kill it? Or was that in some sort of novel.
Schadenfreude.
Can’t wait.
Because mailmen aren’t generally wannabe soldiers and don’t get off on the idea of killing something just because they can?
C’mon people. I absolutely adore dogs, as many policemen do as well. Don’t slur other situations and interactions with police officers, (some of whom are jerks) with this clear case of Jones being chronically irresponsible with the safety of his dog. The dog charged the cop, the dog bit the cop- all outside the home! There is evidence that all of this occurred, which justifies an officer using his firearm to stop the attack and prevent potentially disabling injury to another officer. It is very sad and it was preventable, but the owner caused this. We need more accountability in our society.
P.S.- Why don’t mailmen shoot dogs? BECAUSE THEY AREN’T ISSUED AND TRAINED WITH GUNS. Duh.
“P.S.- Why don’t mailmen shoot dogs? BECAUSE THEY AREN’T ISSUED AND TRAINED WITH GUNS. Duh.”
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Hey Danny, if you really are a cop, which I highly doubt, then why wouldn’t it occur to you to call the County/City Animal Control? Police action was not called for in this instance. There wasn’t an actual crime being committed.
You say that the only reason mailmen don’t shoot dogs is because they aren’t issued weapons or have training to do so. What kind of idiot are you?
I agree with OldPossum & Lurker. Better think twice before shooting MY best friend in MY house or on MY property. The situation will escalate to heights you cannot possibly imagine.
Just go away, newbie.
“This could have been rectified if people werent such pansies and didnt call the cops because a dog was loose.”
You read my mind. In the rare instances that I have seen a loose dog in my neighborhood, I “capture” it and successfully found the owner. The 2 times my dog “escaped” my fenced in yard, I had neighbers that were kind enough to do the same.
I can’t imagine wasting the police departments time on such an easily solved situation. Of course, I don’t call them when McDonalds runs out of mcnuggets either....
Society is getting wimpified and the cops are becoming more militarized. This is not a good combination.
This is the first pet killing I remember:
http://elfie.org/~croaker/lamplugh.html
Finally, at about three o'clock, the wrecking crew finished their destruction. In one final unconscionable act, female agent Donna Slusser deliberately stomped to death a cherished Manx kitten, and kicked it under a tree.
Donna ought to be whacked with a clue by four, a couple of 8,9 or 10 times.
Disgusting
Yeah, and watch what happens when one of us 'civilians' shoots a police DOG (that they oh so cleverly call 'officers').
Wanna be military (but couldn't get in) punks!
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