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Posted on 09/04/2012 11:12:10 AM PDT by Altariel
BUFFALO, NY (WKBW) - When Rita Hairston's husband died five years ago, she adopted a dog to keep her company and help her through an emotional time.
Prada was 5-years-old at the time. The black Labrador Retriever became more than a pet, but a part of Hairston's family. A companion.
Last Saturday morning, she returned to her E. Morris Ave. house in University Heights in Buffalo and discovered her home had been broken into and Prada was missing.
There was a puddle of blood on the floor and bullet holes in the door of a bedroom where Prada slept.
But it was not a burglar who broke in. Hairston found a search warrant, signed by a judge, issued to the Erie County Sheriff's Department, on her kitchen floor.
Hairston said police raided her home, searching for cocaine, connected to a man named Lance Thompson.
Hairston said she rents another home she owns to Thompson, who dates her daughter, but he does not live in her residence and she has absolutely no connection to his alleged illegal activities.
A spokesperson for the sheriff's office said they had probable cause to search Hairston's residence because Thompson's alleged drug activities were suspected to take place from Hairston's house on occasion. The home which she rents to Thompson was also searched.
Deputies were forced to shoot and kill Prada during the raid because he threatened them, the spokesman said.
No drugs were recovered from Hairston's home.
Watch Eyewitness News at 11:00 Thursday night for more on this story.
“But it was not a burglar who broke in. Hairston found a search warrant, signed by a judge, issued to the Erie County Sheriff’s Department, on her kitchen floor”
The article is not 100% clear, but if you watch the video of the local news (at about the 1:46 mark) it is clear that the warrant was for BOTH her tenant’s home and her personal residence.
Of course, this does not justify the police killing the poor dog. However, this is NOT (as the title suggested) a case of the cops breaking down the wrong door and shooting the dog.
It wasn't the WRONG house. The Search Warrant was completely correct in all aspects, and the house was ONE among TWO they searched.
It's just that they didn't find the PERP or EVIDENCE at the (alleged) Drug Dealer's Girlfriend's MOTHER's HOUSE. And they shot the dog.
Do you think there is a chance that because his house was UNDER SURVEILLANCE (and likely he knew), that he MIGHT have taken advantage of the MOTHER'S house while she wasn't home ? How hard is it to convince your druggie girlfriend to let you USE (just about anyone at all) the HOUSE , especially if you promise her a slice off the top?
The warrent was good, killing the dog was probably unnessary, and based on the story they apparently found nothing in her home or they would have waited for her to return and arrested her. The best she can hope for is value of her dog as repayment. Probably about $350.
Very disgusting isn’t it?
I can’t stand it.
This person is sick.
P.S.
Thank you for your comment.
But I'll check out that book just to be sure. Thanks.
This is the 3rd article today on cops killing dogs!
Well, I don’t know about sick and disgusting. I don’t know the poster very well, and besides, things hit different people different ways.
It does seem that there are more of the “cops shoot dog” threads than there used to be.
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Police SWAT teams are used for serving any manner of legal processes these days as is now seen with the US Dept. of Education that uses a SWAT team to collect on past-due student loans...and I am not kidding about that.
Probably is a big word. Are you saying if they found 6 kilos of coke, it would have been all good? Sounds unfair. Like life. But c’mon, the boyfriend just HAPPENED to be a coke dealer but never did anything wrong in the house? Imagine that. I’ll bet that’s the first time anyone ever said they was innocent of all chahges, ya honnah.
I’m with you.
I have 3 labs. If you start shooting them, I will start shooting you. And “you” means anyone.
They can and they do. I read once about them breaking into the wrong house while a family was on vacation and neighbors were forced to secure the place from thieves. Cops just made more excuses then.
“That said, these dog shootings by police are becoming ridiculous. The were threatened by a Labrador? Most labs would probably lead the cops or any other strangers to the drugs rather than attack them.”
I had a black lab that was the sweetest thing you ever met. If you tried to hurt my boy, you would draw back a stump. No stranger ever tried coming through the door without us welcoming them. Not if they were going to stay upright. Sweetest damn dog you ever saw. My boys rode her like a pony, pulled her ears and wrestled with her all day, she never nipped at them ever...dogs can be funny that way, like people. Pretty hard to generalize. I still miss her, she’s been gone twenty years.
I would be more mad at the f’ing idiots that broke down my door (ie... cops).
The daughter and boyfriend didn’t do that. I would raise hell later with them. But who was the real threat here?
F’ing jackboots! You did read NO DRUGS were found!
That was my first thought. The dog was a Labrador Retriever. They make great pets but lousy guard dogs.
The only time mine ever barks is when she sees me carrying her throw toy. Any intruder who breaks in while we are not home would have more to fear from my daughter's cat. (Any intruder who breaks in while we are home needs to fear the 2nd Amendment).
“F’ing jackboots! You did read NO DRUGS were found!”
Saw a squirrel once without a nut in his mouth, too. So what? You don’t get warrants based on when they are actually holding. Jackboots. Please. You’ll know there are Jackboots whn they come in the night and whole families disappear.
True. Labs are not bred to be guard dogs, but they are protective of their families.
The best guard dog I ever had was a mutt (part German Shepard, part Chow and part Rhodesian Ridge Back). Whenever a stranger approached the hair on her back stood up, she growled, bared her teeth and looked like she was about to lunge and rip out the strangers' throat.
You’re putting innocent people’s lives in your hands because breaking into a home automatically invites deadly force. Countless people have been killed by such “mistakes” with no punishment for those involved. I worked in jobs where one mistake could have killed people. I made sure to check every single thing countless times before authorizing anything. If I made one such mistake, I would never work in the industry again and would be subject to criminal and civil charges. Cops and Judges should be held to an EVEN HIGHER standard.
If they do not find what is explicitly stated in the warrant, someone clearly did not do their job. All those involved in such “mistakes” should be fired and charged with the relevant crimes committed during the “mistake”- property crimes, burglary, murder, assault and/or animal cruelty.
Free nations cannot stand for such fishing expeditions, even for “super evil” things like drugs. The property owner is lucky these thugs didn’t “throw down” some evidence on her property and lock her up like often happens in the NYPD: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2095772/Cowboy-cop-Jason-Arbeeny-planted-crack-couples-car-seat-escapes-jail.html
Of course, the thugs never get jail time. Even after admitting to taking away freedom from innocent people like the piece of sh** cop in the article I posted. He should have been publically humiliated and executed as an example to all the corrupt cops.
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