Posted on 07/28/2010 9:58:57 AM PDT by Chet 99
FORT PIERCE, Fla. --
A Fort Pierce firefighter won't be disciplined for using a personal cell phone to capture the shooting of a dog by police, West Palm Beach TV station WPBF reported.
Police on Tuesday released the video recorded by one of three firefighters stranded in their rescue truck because of the pit bull.
The video shows a pit bull running in the direction of a police officer, the officer taking a step back and then firing a round that grazes the dog's face. After the dog is hit, firefighters can be heard laughing and commenting about the dog being shot.
"It's a reaction to the situation," St. Lucie County Fire Chief Ron Parrish said of the firefighters' comments. "We don't condone the comments, but it's a reaction."
A fire rescue spokeswoman said it is against department policy for employees to use their personal cell phones or cameras while responding to a call.
Officials said they spoke with the firefighter and reminded him of the department's rules. No disciplinary action has been taken.
Meanwhile, police were commending the actions of the officer. Police said the dog could not be stopped, even after being shocked twice with a stun gun.
(Excerpt) Read more at wlky.com ...
One less pitbull is a good thing.
Never really funny to see a dog shot but I said with both fire s police brass. Its a reaction. Besides, that policy is put in place due ti HIPAA laws. No violation here.
I SIDE with both police and fire. Qwerty keyboards are rough sometimes :o)
I could see nervous laughter in this sort of situation.
I won’t watch the video but I live in the same County as Fort Pierce. North Fort Pierce that is a gang ridden, high crime area. You get dogs being bred for dog fighting and as attack/guard dogs.
How are they in trouble? they sound like minorities!
I don’t see a problem - firefighters risk their lives every day and they are unable to leave their truck to fight the fire because of a dangerous animal attempting to attack them? If this had been a bear would it matter if they laughed? Too bad they don’t know who owned the dog so they could charge them with the attack.
The cop only grazed the dog with a 12G shotgun? Time to hone up shooting skills.
“colleges and professions are doing all they can to purge any dissenting views of a more “conservative” outlook”
20 years ago I participated in a US Marshall’s seizure of three drug dealer’s properties. First was an abandoned crack house, second was a rental he used to store weapons and third was his personal residence that was fenced and had three P.O’d pitbulls and two dobermans behind it.
Were you one of the guys laughing at the shot dog, Chet?
How exactly was this dog behaving aggressively? It looks like it was just running around, and part of the video clearly shows it running away from them. It didn’t attack anyone, didn’t even bare its teeth, yet somehow this dog was a threat? They tazered the dog several times and it still didn’t try to bite them? What is wrong with this world? Why is it so easy for people to shoot what looks like a scared puppy and blame a breed for sheer ignorance?
This has me very upset, and I am not easily ruffled. I am so sick and tired of this stupidity rampantly destroying any bit of rationality left with humanity! Shoot them, poison them, drown them, burn them, hang them, all in the name of public safety!! All to protect the innocent UNATTENDED children! Nevermind the owners, they must be perfect freaking citizens, so let’s focus on the dogs, who outsmart their owners and let themselves outside in packs, or chain themselves up to wait for errant children, or just decide one day to maul their loving family that never did them wrong, because that makes so much sense! Sickening.
Dear Chet99, your daily posts on this topic suggest to me that you have a serious obsession with pit bulls. Seek help before it consumes you.
Solo, as disgusting as the Pit Bull witch hunt is, this was a dog that had already bit two people and was hindering EMS personnel in the course of their duties. Sadly, this was a good shoot. Another jackass didn’t take proper care of their dog.
Terribly sorry. That is indeed a shame, but I agree that it was necessary. However, I do not take back what I said about the way things are being handled, as this is definitely an owner issue, and continuing to blame a breed of dog will bring us no closer to a solution. Hopefully people at least can see that a dog running loose automatically implies that an irresponsible owner is to blame. This would not have been necessary if the proper actions had been taken in the first place.
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