Hollywood police searching for robber shoot, kill dog

Local 10 ^ | September 26, 2012 | Roger Lohse

[Altariel]

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. -

A Hollywood police officer shot and killed a pit bull in a resident's back yard while searching for a man who had committed a strong armed robbery.

It happened just before noon Wednesday in the 2300 block of Wiley Street. The 4-year-old male pit bull, named Pup-pup, was shot in the back yard of a home that he was trained to protect.

"I just heard gunshots as I was walking back to the house," said dog owner Antonio Williamson. Quick Clicks

* Girl, 5, found; woman being questioned * FBI releases surveillance images in... * Giant pot discovery at the beach * Mother calls for death penalty in... * Cities go pink for breast cancer...

It happened just after Williamson came outside to ask why so many police officers were parked in front of his house. They were looking for a man who had punched another guy in the face and stole his bike in front of a convenience store on Pembroke Road and 22nd Avenue. A witness followed the suspect to the area on Wiley Street and called 911.

"The police suspected the robber may have gone into the back yard so they entered through a side gate.

"When they got to the back yard, they were confronted by a pit bull," said Hollywood Police Sgt. Lester Cochenour.

The dog was shot multiple times and died in the back yard. Williamson was angry that officers didn't knock first. He said Pup-pup was a humble dog and was great with kids, but was also trained to protect to his property.

"There have been a lot of break ins around here, in this area for the last year and a half or so, and I have my dog out here just for that purpose," Williamson told Local 10's Roger Lohse.

Lohse reported that there are no signs on the side of Williamson's house indicating that a dog was in the backyard. Under the law, police are allowed to enter private property if they are pursuing or searching for a felony suspect.

But none of that makes either side feel any better about how this confrontation ended.

"It is an unfortunate circumstance that the dog and the police met. It was not the initial call but the officer had to shoot the dog to protect himself," said Sgt. Cochenour.

"Well, you know, they apologized about it but naturally the dog was protecting its area," Williamson told Lohse.

[TribalPrincess2U]

Did they use hollow point?

[a fool in paradise]

Did they use hollow point?

Those are reserved for Socialist Insecurity officers.

[ClearCase_guy]

The police can wander into anyone’s backyard and just do as much searching as they like. No paperwork required. They just go where they want to go. Anyone (or anything) which starts to complain about it is apt to get a bullet between the eyes.

Have a nice day.

[andyk]

Yay, police state.

[andyk]

Glad to see the comments are squarely opposed to the actions of the officer.

[andyk]

When they got to the back yard, they were confronted by a pit bull,

How exactly do you confront someone when you're on your own property?

[ansel12]

We know that cops poke around, but I don’t remember them being so military style back in the 50s and 60s, and leaving so much collateral damage that needs to be buried.

Casually killing pets that you run into while poking around and looking, is pushing the envelope.

[Altariel]

You can’t.

Moreover, look at the grammar of the sentence. It’s written in a passive voice; it appears like the sentence has an object, but it really doesn’t.

A sentence written in active voice would read “The police confronted a pit bull in the back yard.”

[Wings-n-Wind]

"The police suspected the robber may have gone into the back yard so they entered through a side gate.

****************

If the police do not have an "clearly articulated" basis for their reasonable suspicion about the suspect being in the back yard... a "hunch" doesn't count.

They have no rights to enter the premises...
....much less destroy anyone's property.

Get a lawyer... make a demand.

It's NOT a police state...dang it...

Until we "train" them to play by the rules by obtaining seriously painful and expensive punitive judgments..

They will press the limits every time....

And try to get away with marginally unlawful behavior patterns via verbal/psych intimidation...
...and doublespeak ex post facto** explanations.

** (Latin for B.S.)

[CGASMIA68]

"Under the law, police are allowed to enter private property if they are pursuing or searching for a felony suspect."

Under the law are they allowed to kill anything that stands in there way?I kinda f'en doubt it. This crap is out of control and usually just like the screwed up show cops,the innocent dont have the $$ means to get legal counsel to sue the crap out of the municipalities.

[Woodsman27]

At first when I saw the headline I felt awful. Then I read that it was a pit bull and no longer cared.

[CGASMIA68]

Your ignorance is showing.
All Bull Dogs are not trained killers but they sure are protective

[Joe 6-pack]

If it had been a border collie, the police would have shot it.

When they come for you, there will be no one left to speak...

[GBA]

Under the law, police are allowed to enter private property if they are pursuing or searching for a felony suspect.

So, once there, in your yard, they are exempt from what happens to them or from whatever they happen to do? Even break a law that they are supposed to uphold just like everyone else is?

Whatever the intent, the law appears to be in violation of one's private property rights.

One's right to the quiet, lawful enjoyment of one's property trumps the right of another citizen, in uniform or not, to break those rights by coming onto one's property in the first place otherwise it looks like illegal search.

It doesn't matter whether or not they're there to uphold some other law that may or may not have been broken.

And it most certainly doesn't then exempt them from any other crime they commit against the owner and their property while there illegally or legally.

The law is supposed to apply to everyone equally.

If you can't go and do the same thing to the person who did those same things to you and not go to jail or get paid leave, whatever their punishment, then there is a problem.

[jonascord]

This kind of Sheriff of Nottingham Imperial Guard behavior is standard procedure, now. I'm all for it.

Each time these stupid, 'roided, skin-head bloused booted wanna-be thugs pulls some stunt like this, they add to the people who will point out where to plant the IED 'cause they want to find out what it will do to a Crown Vic.

These mental defectives are too dim to realize that they are the Line, that must be bulldozed, between the Commiecrats and the civilians they disparage. They make noises about being 'conservative," but are the visible, daily rapers of the Constitution they were sworn to protect and defend.

It will bring no pleasure to see them dangling in front of the county court house, but killing and pillaging under cover of "law" will bring Retribution...

[Paladin2]

Just like all pea shooters are AK-47s, all dogs are now Pit Bulls.

[Salamander]

” the law appears to be in violation of one’s private property rights.”

“Private property rights” are a bigger myth than unicorns.

“The law is supposed to apply to everyone equally.”

Enjoy your government sanctioned illusions.

:-|

[Salamander]

Find the "Pit Bull"

If it bit a child: it’s a pitbull.

If it was off-leash and attacked your on-leash dog at the dog park, it’s a pitbull.

If you couldn’t make it let go of what it had latched onto, it’s a pitbull.

If you were scared for your life because it was barking, it’s a pitbull.

If it had eyes that turned red before it attacked, oh that’s definitely a pitbull.

If it jumped up on you and wasn’t in control by its owners, it’s a pitbull.

If it attacked your utility man, it’s a pitbull.

If it was being provoked by a bunch of teenaged louts and bit one of them, it’s now a blooded pitbull that’s beyond redemption and must be destroyed immediately.

If it alerted you to the fact that your house was on fire, it’s a golden retriever.

If it chased away the man who tried to snatch your bag, it’s a golden retriever.

If it jumped into a river to rescue a drowning child, it’s a golden retriever.

If it was being provoked by a bunch of teenaged louts and bit one of them, it was obviously just distressed and who’d blame it for responding in that fashion, and there should be an entire internet campaign to excuse its behaviour and fight for rehabilitation instead of euthanasia – oh and by the way it’s a golden retriever.

[MarMema]

Excellent!!! Would love to have this to post elsewhere.