Posted on 06/21/2013 7:03:06 PM PDT by Altariel
When Rebecka Brown returned home June 5, she noticed a business card stuck in her door.
That card was from Det. Joey Cooper, a deputy with the Carteret County Sheriff’s Office.
“Naturally I called the number immediately to find out why an officer had been here,” she wrote on a Facebook page.
Det. Cooper told her he was there to serve a warrant to her husband for failure to appear in court in relation to a ticket he had received while hunting. She also found out something horrifying.
“He then told me he had to tase my dog.”
When she asked why, Brown says Det. Cooper told her that Merlin, the family’s year-old lab/boxer mix, had attacked him. “I asked him if he was okay… I was in complete shock! He said he was fine, not so much as a scratch on him.”
[Note: Merlin was attached to a 10' lead in the backyard, not roaming freely.]
“He instructed me that the taser did not shock Merlin because only one prong made a connection with him,” she said adding that Det. Cooper told her how to remove the prong. When the call ended, she went to check on her wounded pup. “Merlin wouldn’t let me near him. I could see the prong protruding from his back but but he just cowered and whined,” she said.
After several attempts to coax Merlin over so she could remove the prong, she noticed something strange about his eye. “There was a little blood under the lid of his right eye and the eyeball itself resembled an old rubber party balloon.” After she and a friend removed the prong she noticed his eyeball was ripped open.
Brown said she immediately called Det. Cooper back but got his voicemail. She then called the Sheriff’s Office to report her dog’s injuries. An hour later, she says two deputies showed up to investigate. 
“They asked to see Merlin, so I took them inside to him,” she said. “As soon as he saw them, he cowered to the side, wimpered, and started to visibly shake. The deputy took a step towards him and Merlin started to growl. He was responding to the uniform… I informed the deputy that this is not his normal behavior and that he is responding out of fear. A uniform, just like theirs, had seriously injured him…. he was afraid of another round with that uniform!”
She believes the eye injury was caused by either a flashlight or a nightstick.
Brown’s quest for accountability continued.
I tried to file a formal complaint with the Sheriff’s Department and I was shuffled away. I went to the magistrate to press charges for animal cruelty and I was told that I couldn’t because he is a law enforcement officer!!! So, I went to the district attorneys office to lodge a complaint and get an investigation underway. I was directed to the SBI (State Bureau of Investigation).”
She has also taken to the internet for justice starting a website, a Facebook page and a petition. On the Justice for Merlin Facebook page, Brown has been updating those interested in her “roadblocks” with law enforcement and the justice system, as well as Merlin’s recovery.
After multiple calls to District Attorney Scott Thomas, an internal investigation was finally started. On Wednesday, Brown says she was visited by Sheriff Asa Buck and an internal affairs officer.
Following the meeting she posted:
Both the sheriff and internal affairs feel that the investigation revealed that the deputy is without fault. He stated that he was afraid when he and Merlin met in my back yard and that the Deputy is thankful that he grabbed the taser rather than his firearm. I was further informed that the deputy had every legal right to be on the property and had a right to defend himself. They do not believe that the deputy entered my back yard with the intent of harming Merlin and that Merlin’s injuries are an unfortunate situation. After Merlin is done with all of his vet visits, I am to inform the department and they will see about getting the bills paid.
…
I honestly don’t know how I feel about all this. I’m angry that my dog was hurt. I’m very angry that my dog will never regain full sight in that eye. I’m hurt that my children are affected by this to the point that they tell me they are afraid of cops. I’m angry that the use of tasers on animals is endorsed by our county. The county considers this matter closed.
…
I’ve never known the sheriff to be anything but honorable. I am so confused and hurt.
Begin rant:
Justified? Afraid of a dog that was tied up?
There is not justification for harming an animal if you just get spooked. The deputy, according to Brown, admitted that he didn’t have a scratch on him. So how can this assault be justified?
If it had not been a law enforcement officer, the individual responsible for the injuries to Merlin would be brought up on animal cruelty charges. But because of the incestuous investigation, the perp gets to walk.
The Department shouldn’t have to compensate for the vet bills…the individual who committed the act should be the responsible party. Badges don’t grant extra rights and individuals are responsible for their own actions.
End rant.
Carteret County Sheriff’s Office
Sheriff Asa Buck
304 Craven Street
Beaufort, NC 28516
(252) 504-4800
We agree on this.
Wrong. Read the post again.
“Rare”?
We both know the truth of that.
I have the unenviable position of having tried to nail an abusive/illegally acting cop.
They will enfold and protect their own like a bear with cubs.
Virtually no one will receive anything resembling “justice” once their rights have been violated.
I wish the dog’s owner luck...she’s gonna need a lot of it.
Then we'll just have to disagree about what is reasonable. If there's nobody home, I don't consider that reasonable. Both as a military police officer, and as a volunteer at an animal shelter, I've seen too many dogs tied up and left in a yard who either wrap the tether around a tree or get it tangled on something and can't get to their water on a hot day, kick their waterbowl over and spend the day without, hang themselves over a low fence, get mauled by a stray dog or pack thereof, get abused by passers by (with or without badges), or eventually contract heartworms from being a veritable cafeteria for mosquitoes. etc.
If you have to leave your dog tied up outside while you go to work all day, you either don't have enough respect for the animal, have too big a dog for your residence, or haven't invested the time and discipline in training the animal that a responsible pet owner should. A fenced outdoor run with shelter and water is entirely different, ut tying or chaining them to a tree, a post, an anchor, etc. and leaving for the day is simply irresponsible.
The IRS/NSA probably heard the dog “barking in code” late one night and painted him a target.
Of course it doesn’t justify those disgusting actions, and that’s not what the comment meant. It meant that it is inadvisable to leave your dog tied up outside while you’re away, because anything can happen to him. As in something bad.
Yup.
I wouldn’t waste a dime on the best e-fence ever made.
I like good strong wire and tall sturdy wood...with locked gates.
[having to defeat the locks gives me plenty of time to chamber a round and get the dogs behind me]
She has -never- said any such ridiculous thing.
Either be serious or burn your straw man.
Nobody likes ludicrous hyperbole.
There seems to be a new crop now to take up the torch nightstick.
“who want their dogs outside all the time.”
Dogs are not made to be outside all the time.
If a person can’t bother to take care of it like it deserves, they shouldn’t have it.
I don’t tie my dogs up.
When I was young, my dad made a ‘trolley line’ in the back yard for my dog to enjoy while I was in school on nice weather days.
However, he was a hundred pound Dobe.
Nobody/nothing ever ‘bothered’ him...more than once.
When I lived under parental rules, I couldn’t have all my dogs inside 24/7.
I left home as soon as I was 18.
My dogs have all been sofa hounds ever since then.
I agree. I am not an advocate of tying up a dog.
I can’t remember the exact words, but I read once that a tied dog just wishes for freedom, and will run at the opportunity, but a free dog just wishes to be home.
The classic:
But perhaps you prefer something more utilitarian:
One or two? Really? Where the heck have you been?This crap goes on all the time and its not the same one or two officers.The cops do themselves no favors doing stupid shit like this.
Lots of people tie out or kennel dogs when they can’t personally supervise them, are at work or whatever- it is a responsible thing to do so the dog doesn’t get in trouble; which normally works fine. Of course some people kennel or tie and neglect a dog but there is always a certain number of irresponsible people, those kind of people would neglect dogs no matter how they kept them.
We don’t know what kind of pet owner this lady is but I don’t agree that tying one out or kenneling one is a bad thing- depends on how it is done. I imagine if the dog had the run of the entire back yard the officer would likely have shot it so don’t see how her tying her dog up was part of this at all.
Tied up dogs become aggressive because of being paradoxically terrified all the time.
They’re not stupid; they *know* they’re helpless targets for any manner of threat to their life.
They know they’re trapped.
All animals operate on ‘flight or fight’.
When you remove the “flight” choice with chain, only “fight” is left...so they do.
That has happened. Polly Klass, that Jaygard girl.
I said, and I quote:
Would be like condemning the entire military for the acts of a few idiots.
Notice I used the word like as in comparison, never said Altariel ever made that statement.
“To condemn an entire group of people for the acts of a few is just beyond comprehension.
I guess somewhere in your past a cop pissed in you cereal and thus the vendetta.”
Go back and reread what I wrote.
When you are interested in responding in an intellectually honest manner befitting a conservative and a Freeper, perhaps you will reply once more.
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