Posted on 07/18/2011 6:49:02 PM PDT by Immerito
MS Police Officer Shoots Chained Dog Six Times March 23, 2011
In Gulfport, MS, police were called to a subdivision to investigate a possible break-in. During the course of the investigation, an officer went into the backyard of a neighbor’s home where she encountered the owner’s chained dog. The owner, who was just coming outside to get his dog, says the officer was standing approximately 30 feet from the end of the dog’s chain when she put half a dozen bullets in the dog.
Samuel Lovato rushed his beloved pet – named Melmo – to the vet but the injuries were too extensive and euthanasia was performed in order to relieve Melmo’s suffering. Mr. Lovato:
“I’ve had her for 11 years. Eleven years. She was a great dog, a good dog and she was just in her yard doing her job and just being a dog.”
Police will investigate themselves, as usual:
Police are looking into the incident, according to Lt. Craig Petersen with the Gulfport Police Department.
“First, we need to conduct our internal investigation,” Lt. Petersen said. “I feel really bad for the gentleman and the loss of his dog, but we’ll conduct the internal investigation.”
He also said that officers have to make life and death decisions in an instant, including assessing threats from animals.
“The officer has discretion in how to protect themselves in these situations, totally up to the officer based on the facts and circumstances of that particular case.”
Sound like they’ve already got the “Justified Killing” stamp all inked up? But wait, there’s more:
There is no timetable for when the investigation will be completed. The officer involved in the shooting remains on active duty.
So I guess it’s ‘Gulfport dog owners, hide your dogs’? Maybe while you’re at it, hide your kids too. I hate to think of a kid being in a yard with a dog where half a dozen bullets are flying.
Even if it is a 50 chain or you don’t know how long it is? Should she wait to have the dog have the chain stretched taught before doing anything about it? What if the slack is never taken up.
I think the officer did not know the chain was thirty feet long. If so, then you have a point, but if not, then she needs some slack at least as long as the slack in the chain.
It the old days, cops were proud they never had to pull their hand guns after YEARS of service, now, it seems, they look for any excuse to pop a cap. It's "vicious dogs" now, how long until some unarmed person gets in a heated argument with a cop and gets smoked because the cop FELT threatened?
OK, so it has probably happened by now, and i'm sure there will be examples.
You are forgetting one rather important fact: the cop we are discussing here was TRESPASSING!
She had no right or reason to even BE in that yard. The dog’s owner had heard the commotion and was on his way to bring the dog into the house when this (rhymes with rich) shot his dog in front of him!
May your chains rest lightly upon you.
Why are you defending a cop who was trespassing on the neighbor’s property?
Do you believe that trespassing and shooting a law abiding citizen’s dog is acceptable behavior for a police officer in America?
Such a needless execution is an act of terrorist intimidation. The cops are deliberately conditioning the public to accept anything they do without question or resistance. The cops are being conditioned as well. It is only a small step to cross the line from shooting dogs to shooting “enemies of the state”. It happened in another civilized country in Europe.
fascinating observation and thank you for it!
“It the old days, cops were proud they never had to pull their hand guns after YEARS of service”
In the old days, cops knew (and worked according to) Robert Peel’s principles.
Was the conrete alligator un-chained?
Okay, new rule... If you’re not man enough to handle a dog, without a gun, you’re not man enough to wear the uniform.
Could the dog have been white, and the officer of “some-ultra-privileged-race-that-dare-not-be-mentioned”? just askin’...
you’ve got more self control than I do, because I would. :(
Thank you for posting that.
I felt a chill run down my back when I read that reply.
The vast majority of police will never discharge their service arm during an entire career on the force; many are thus just itching to get it out and fire a shot at something - anything.
There is if we take the money for all their fancy toys away. Once that's gone, they'll have to rely on the citizenry of the town they police to do anything. Which means they'll have to be polite and 'not shoot the dog'.
Local governments should end asset forfeiture, itemize police budgets into strict categories (payroll, maintenance, infrastructure, weapons/armor, etc), and then end funding for the urban combat (SWAT).
I have a real problem with dogs that are considered "pets" by their owners but yet they are kept chained up in the back yard.......
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