Posted on 09/29/2010 5:11:07 AM PDT by marktwain
Family members claim they called police for help Wednesday morning, but when officers arrived, they were treated like criminals and an officer shot and killed their family dog. It all unfolded in the 1100 block of Fiji Lane in Landover.
Four-year-old Mercedes, a Rottweiler mix, is the latest dog shot and killed by police in Prince George's County.
Dog owner Sterling Barlow said about Mercedes, "Cold blood... Shot in the head for no reason."
The problem started when owner Sterling Barlow's brother pulled into the family driveway after work early Wednesday morning. The family claims two men immediately approached, armed with a gun and demanding his car. The brother managed to fight them off, ran into the house and came back out firing his gun.
"If somebody did that to your family you will retaliate the best way you know how," said Barlow.
After a shootout with the alleged robbers, the two brothers called police. When police arrived, Barlow says things got out of hand with the officers and his innocent dog paid the tragic price.
Barlow said, "One grabs me in the head lock and starts punching me in the face."
Mother Dwana Barlow said, "The police officer wouldn't even let me go to the bathroom... and held me hostage in my own house."
While being wrestled to the ground by five different cops, Barlow and witnesses in the neighborhood tell us a female Prince George's County officer shot the dog in the head.
Barlow stated, "While this was going on I said 'please, don't point a gun at my dog.' I begged her. She didn't need to be involved in this. She was in the yard."
But Barlow was arrested and charged with multiple crimes, including insulting an officer. Police say the officer acted appropriately when shooting the dog.
Neighbor Barbara Wells said, "The dog did not attack anyone. He never approached anyone. Even as the officers grabbed Sterling the dog didn't do anything."
Police spent hours Wednesday searching for the full police report. Around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday, police called ABC 7 News on the phone and confirmed that an officer did shoot and kill the dog out of self defense. There will be a police investigation but that officer will not be placed on administrative leave.
The alleged robbers have not been found.
self ping cause theres gotta be more to this story...
The dominant population consists of possibly the largest African-American middle-class community in any SMSA in the country.
Now, the big dog thing ~ PG cops sent 5 officers on a robbery call where they'd been told the victims had SHOT BACK.
That arises out of the fact that shootings are common in PG county and not all callers are honest! And, if the truth be known, PG has a reputation for hiring poorly trained police ~ and leaving them poorly trained, so the more of them you send along the more likely at least one of them will know what they're doing.
Nobody said anything about "fenced" just that "the dog was in the yard", and I suspect that was true ~ that he was in an unfenced yard, not on a leash.
Steny Hoyer, one of the top three top dogs in the Democrat caucus in Congress used to be the Congresscritter for this county. When an African-American majority took over management and mismanagement of the place the state legislature concocted a new district for him to run from ~ with a Democrat majority.
That dog's death may be laid at the hands of Steny Hoyer.
“Insulting an officer”?
This is a week old article!!
It's a s**hole. Think Detroit. Our church used to deliver food aid there, but it got too dangerous even though we were operating in broad daylight.
No way. I can do better than that with a rubber band wrapped around my fingers!
So what, it’s dated correctly.
At six feet with my arms extended the muzzle of my gun is only three feet from the target. How could anyone possibly miss the whole target at that range?
Maryland “Freak State” PING!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.