Posted on 06/24/2018 10:41:51 AM PDT by BBell
Wichita, KS — Earlier this year, a cop was fired after he shot a little girl inside her own home while trying to kill her dog. Showing that they are willing to hold their own accountable, the officer was charged with felony aggravated battery in March. And now, months after the original incident, the video has finally been released from the officer’s body camera.
On Thursday, Sedgwick County District Attorney Marc Bennett released body camera video from officer Dexter Betts which shows him attempt to kill a 35 pound dog and strike a small 9-year-old girl instead.
In January, Betts was placed on administrative leave after discharging his firearm inside a family’s home—in the cowardly attempt to kill a dog. Then, in an actual moment of accountability, Officer Betts was fired and in March he was charged.
The officer was hired last January and barely made it a year before being fired.
According to Kansas.com, Betts was the first cop in decades to be charged in an on-duty shooting that resulted in an injury or death.
According to the family’s attorney, the girl, hit by bullet fragments, was so directly in the line of fire when the officer shot at her dog that the flashlight he shined from above his gun barrel illuminated her face right before he fired. Indeed, this has now been verified by the video.
The video shows Betts and his partner approach the house with flashlights and enter through the front door. When they enter the house, several children are seen in the living room watching television.
Betts checks the hallway and then returns to the living room where he becomes frightened by the family’s medium sized English bull terrier named Chevy.
“Ok, we got a dog inside here, too,” he says. “Whoa! Whoa!”
Then, with careless disregard for the children in the room, Betts puts the lives of multiple innocent lives in danger to shoot at a dog who just barked at him.
“Ow! Ow! Ow, you hurt my eye! Ow! Ow!” the girl begins to yell immediately. Her screams are absolutely heartbreaking.
Betts then orders all the children out of the room. When dispatch asks Betts over the radio what happened, he tells them the “Dog inside attacked us.” Apparently barking is now an attack.
According to the charge against him, Betts “did … unlawfully and recklessly cause bodily harm to another person … (the child) in a manner whereby great bodily harm, disfigurement or death could have been inflicted, to wit: firing a handgun at a dog while a child was in the room.”
Naturally, Betts’ attorney, Jess Hoeme says her client did nothing wrong and was totally in the right when he nearly killed a little girl to prevent the possibility of her small dog biting him.
“I expect that this will be litigated at length because I firmly believe that Mr. Betts did not act recklessly under the circumstances, and we look forward to presenting our defense in court,” she said.
As Kansas.com reports, Charley O’Hara, attorney for the girl’s family, said the child’s mother is pleased.
“She said she was happy with the charge that was filed, and it was the correct thing to do.” Still, because of the shooting, “the girl is still struggling,” O’Hara said, without elaborating.
According to the report, O’Hara praised District Attorney Marc Bennett, whose office filed the charge: “I think it is a big deal. I think there’s a tendency of certain government officials to treat law enforcement officers differently than the regular public for the same acts, and it appears that Mr. Bennett is treating everyone equally, which is very admirable.”
As KAKE reported at the time, officers were called at around 6:15 p.m. to the report of a domestic disturbance and suicidal person in the 1500 block of North Gentry, near 13th and Hillside. Officer Paul Cruz said in a news release that officers were told a 33-year-old man in the home had held a gun in his mouth and choked a dog.
When officers arrived at the home, instead of getting the woman and four children to safety, they went in guns blazing after learning that the gun the man had held in his mouth was under a pillow in a bedroom.
“While the officers were retrieving the gun, a mid-sized mixed breed dog charged at one of the officers,” the release said.” The officer pulled his service weapon and shot at the dog, missing it.”
This is Chevy.
The poorly aimed shot then ricocheted off the floor and a fragment of the bullet struck the innocent 9-year-old girl in the forehead just above her right eye. Had the bullet struck just an inch lower, the poor girl could’ve been permanently blinded or worse.
Danielle Maples, the girl’s mother recounted the horrifying experience to the press noting that her daughter was sitting down on the couch when she was struck in the head. Also, her 6-year-old son was standing right next to the officer when he fired not one but two shots.
The little girl was brought to the hospital and treated for her injuries. Luckily, Maples’ three other children were not physically injured. However, the emotional scarring left by this experience could last a lifetime.
Maples explained how at the hospital doctors removed three fragments of the bullet from her daughter’s head showing just how close she’d come to being blinded.
Wichita Police Chief Gordon Ramsay reportedly told Maples in a phone conversation after ge watched the video “that what he witnessed was not only morally wrong but against their protocols and training.” He didn’t say why, she said.
Finally a reckless cop is held accountable.
Some stranger coming into the dark house with a flashlight and the kids are scared, my dog better go at him. Good dog. Bad cop.
Only because he was too stupid to turn off his body cam and his superiors didn’t manage to “lose” or destroy it somehow. Video from those has an odd way of not existing in such instances, strange how that always happens isn’t it?
“It’s the current police policy now, shoot the family dog first then figure out what is going on.”
Even the little ankle biters.
They don’t like the noise.
Shoot mine and they’ll hear much louder noises.
English Bull Terrier, the same kind Gen George Patton owned. They’re often lumped in with other bully breeds and generally called “Pit Bulls.” There’s a picture in the article.
I’ve noticed that, too. Just so strange. /sarcasm that is in agreement with you
Same as a lot of cops.
Amazing breed. Mine was withered me for 14 years. Perfect animal. Protective? Yes. Aggressive? No.
My friend’s Bull Terriers were hilarious. Just the friendliest, sweetest pups. Very expensive, I gather that the shape of the head causes problems for the mama during pregnancy and a lot have to be delivered by c-section.
Quiet pups, and then they just come out with these odd vocalizations — really fun to have around.
Bull terrier. See photo.
+1
+1
Sometimes dogs just need a turret gun. Maybe reactive armor?
What kind of training are cops getting now that they would simply shoot a dog for doing its job; barking at an intruder?
I support the police but this kind of thing makes it really hard to continue. It sounds like all the police need to go back to boot training to be re-trained in a non-military style of doing their jobs as the primary way then only resort to military style if the situation demands it.
And I appreciate your concern & advice.
Death.
Cop should be jailed for a minimum of 20 years. I’d like to read more about this as information comes out.
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