Posted on 11/13/2007 6:20:23 PM PST by Malacoda
CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Pennsylvania State Police shot a family's fenced-in pet to death Tuesday.
Troopers later admitted they weren't supposed to be in that yard in the first place.
State troopers were in the neighborhood, trying to serve a warrant on someone. They sent a couple of extra troopers around to guard the back door. Those officers, however, cut through a neighbor's yard, and that's when they came across Sheeba, a very protective family dog, NBC 10's Tim Furlong reported.
"She was doing her job. That's what she does, she protects us," said DiQuan Dill said.
DiQuan and his five brothers and sisters got the bad news when they got home from school Tuesday that their Belgian shepard was killed in their back yard.
Their mom was there when it happened.
"I was in there laying down and, all of a sudden, I heard gunfire -- about five or six rounds," Denise Dill said.
But what disturbed the family most was that state police killed Sheeba.
"When I came to the door, they were actually next door, and I said, 'What's the matter? Who shot my dog?' And he was like, 'Your dog bit me.' I said, 'What are you doing in the yard?' And he said, 'We're looking for this guy over here.' I said, 'Why did you have to shoot the dog?' He said, 'She bit me.' I said, 'Why you didn't just get out of the yard?'"
Denise's fiancée was devastated, and she said the kids were even more upset.
"She was always happy. I don't know why they did that. She was always joyful, running around, everything," DiQuan said.
The bitten state trooper was recovering from puncture wounds to his hand.
A lieutenant at his barracks admitted the trooper should never have cut through the yard in the first place. He told NBC 10 the troopers never saw or heard the dog in the yard but that, either way, troopers are not supposed to cut through private property to serve out a warrant at another house.
"He obviously panicked, you know, and messed up," Dill said.
She got business cards from the troopers on scene, and she said one trooper apologized.
But an apology can't bring Sheeba back to the kids who grew up with her.
"We got dog food and everything, and we don't have anyone to give it to. We don't got nothing," Dill said.
State police said they do apologize and will compensate the family for their loss, Furlong reported. The man they came to get was taken into custody on pretty minor charges, Furlong said.
The mafia "protects" people. A bull "serves" a cow.
Here’s the problem as I imagine it:
1) Cop is in Man’s yard without cause;
2) Man’s dog in Man’s yard;
3) Cop shoots Man’s Dog;
4) Because Man lives in Texas, Man owns gun;
5) Man hears Cop shoot Man’s Dog in Man’s Yard;
6) Man grabs gun;
7) Because Cop shot Man’s Dog at night, Man sees only man standing in his yard with a gun;
8) Man shoots Cop he has perceived as an intruder;
9) Texas castle-doctrine (thank you Leg. 2007) justifies Man’s shooting by law;
10) Other Cops then shoot Man.
11) Disaster has happened because Cop was where he wasn’t supposed to be.
There are other scenarios, like where Man has kids that are hit in the crossfire, or Man’s neighbor gets hit by a stray. But in the end, you wind up with a lot of dead people based on someone being not where he was supposed to be...
Is there any reason that cops who enter people's property without legal justification and then harm those people or their property should not be prosecuted the same as any other trespasser, assailant, or vandal?
Nope. And that’s not what this thread is about.
But you knew that.
If a cop does something without legal justification, I see no reason the cop should be treated any better than a non-cop who performed a similar action.
My preference would be that cops follow the law. If a few cops have to get shot in order that the rest of them will follow the law, I'd consider that a better situation than having cops that are free to break the law with impunity.
If there are people of any sort, lets say 25 of them, and they are in someone’s back yard at night....and they should not be there....and they start shooting. I don’t care if it is a dog or a shadow. The right number for the homeowner to shoot is 25 where I live. Every last one. And go get them the next day if you miss. If they should not be there the right thing for them to do is get their A$$ chewed, lick their wounds and go home. What commie planet do you come from?
Has this been going on all along and I am just now paying attention?
Tazers. Shooting every dog in sight.
What is wrong with law enforcment.
No matter how commonly or rarely events happen, I would consider it unacceptable for cops to escape punishment on even 10% of them. Would you agree with that premise?
If that premise is acceptable, then it would seem that either (1) incidents where cops are punished outnumber at least 10 to 1 those that are reported where they do not, in which case the rate of such events would seem unacceptably high, or (2) an unacceptable number of cops are escaping punishment for well-known criminal actions on their part.
Since it would seem more likely that cops would escape punishment for events which don't become widely known than for those that do, the apparent very low rate of punishment for well-known events suggests an even lower rate of punishment for such events overall. Is there any reason not consider that totally unacceptable?
There guns? Suprise? uh huh
I’m guessing the clue you provided? or maybe UPS guy has dog biscuits?
Excellent point. Imagine what would happen to someone that shot a police dog on their own property, where the dog shouldn't have been in the first place, because it was seen to be threatening them or nipped them.
What pisses me off and always has is that police recognize how vicious the teeth of a dog are, and condemn measures of suspects to affirmatively defend themselves, and do so with with oppressive penalties.
Yet, policeman routinely kill innocent pets with the defense, “I was just defending myself.”
What you want to bet they don’t even offer to pay for the dog?
Unless they get sued, and then the chances, while improved, are probably still not high.
Yeah, just a dog. For some people, people with hearts and souls, their dog means the same to them as their children
So, by your reasoning, it would have been just as okay, if it had been a small child in the yard
If it’s a TRESPASSER, it SHOULD be shot dead. Period.
The difference between a cop and a criminal has come down to nothing more than a badge. Often the criminals show MORE humanity.
Pity, because I remember when the cops really were our friends.
Remember it was law that planted its flag after conquering Waco etc.
I’m all for law and order but there are elements of law enforcement that need to be restrained posthaste.
Oops, missed the line at the end that says they already have. Not that it will help.
The Inquirer ran a headline a few years ago: “Girl, 10 Shot After Snowball Fight Leaves Hospital.” The story concerned a girl who had been shot after a snowball fight, and was subsequently hospitalized. After being there awhile, she left, and the story talked about her leaving the hospital.
The headline, however, implies that a snowball fight left the hospital, and then after that the girl and either nine or 10 other people were shot.
No kidding...that headline is confusing. I read it three times, and I still wasn’t sure what the story was.
Looked to me like a warrant was serving dogs while being fenced in.
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