Cop shoots, kills family dog (Golden Retriever)

ajc.com ^ | 12/20/10 | Alexis Stevens

[Nachum]

A Clayton County mother of six said the family dog did what he always did when he saw someone. He barked.

But when "Boomer" started barking and running toward a police officer Saturday morning, the officer shot the dog and killed it, Lawrene King told the AJC Sunday night.

“He’s a golden retriever," King said. "He barks, but he’s never bitten anyone.”

A Clayton County police officer was on foot patrol on North Shore Drive when the dog jumped off a porch and started barking and running toward the officer, Capt. Tina Daniel said. The officer ordered the dog to stop and when it didn't, the officer shot and killed the animal in its yard, Daniel said.

The officer, whose name was not released, was responding to a call reporting a suspicious person, police said.

[dragnet2]

Maybe you could answer this:

How is it possible mailmen are able to protect themselves on a daily basis against dogs without shooting them in neighborhoods full of people and kids?

[SnakeDoctor]

Reading comprehension ... try it. Posts 331 and 346. I’ll even quote it for you again ... my answer remains “I don’t know”. I don’t anticipate it changing.

I fail to see any relevance whatsoever to the question. So, I ask again ... what is your point (see your tagline — it seems to describe pretty well your inane posts about mailmen)? What answer were you looking for?

If you’ve got some brilliant mailman-related revelation, get on with it. If you’re just wasting my time, I’ll move on.

SnakeDoc

[dragnet2]

You seem really knowledgeable regarding defending against dogs...

So once again I ask:

How is it possible mailmen are able to protect themselves on a daily basis against dogs without shooting them in neighborhoods full of people and kids?

Asked and answered.

My answer remains “I don’t know”.

You don't know?

I'm supposed to believe that? lol...

Even kids in 4th grade know what mailmen carry for protection Tex.

They use mase and pepper spray, of course you knew that tex...

Question:

Instead of shooting weapons at family dogs, in neighborhoods full of kids and old ladies would it not make more sense for law enforcement to use pepper spay and mase like the mailman does?

[Paladin2]

"How is it possible mailmen are able to protect themselves on a daily basis against dogs without shooting them"

They carry a couple of throw down bags of dog treats?

[Paladin2]

The >halfway intelligent mailfolks carry dog treats.

DUH!

[dragnet2]

It would have worked in this case, as would pepper spray or mase...

Not a complex issue.

[muawiyah]

Back when I was trying to figure out how fast the skiers in Cross Country are going when they go downhill I found they could do 65 MPH easy, and maybe more depending on the height of the hill.

A WOLF (same's as a dog but smarter) could do 35 MPH on average, which was equal to the cross country skier on average.

You can figure out quickly why the Sa'ami and Alpine hunters had an advantage over the wolves ~ it was the 65 MPH part. Wolves, and dogs, usually can't run that fast, but they are STILL much faster than a man on foot.

So the dog was 25 feet from the porch when it was shot. At 35 mph how much time would it take the dog to reach the officer?

I think we need more information to address the equation directly, but it is a solvable problem.

Which takes me to my point ~ dogs are usually not stupid. They think, plan ahead, consider, and figure out how to attack.

So, here's a dog and he's been thinking, planning, and imagining attacking and all at once he's loose and there's a guy on the sidewalk ~ all that pent up thinking bursts loose and he's off in a flash moving SEVERAL TIMES FASTER than a cop at a walking pace.

We can go to a table of standard values that tell us how many seconds it takes to sight a target and pull a standard service revolver.

BTW, guys, the dog already knows that if he's going as fast as he can he can get outside that electric fence with ease. His owner probably doesn't know that but the 6 kids might have one or two who do know. We could ask them about how the dog leaves the yard.

Fur Shur, that dog's going to be hauling as fast as he can if he's attempting to penetrate the fence and get to the man on the sidewalk. It's possible that at 35 miles per hour the dog can get to the man faster than he can pull his gun and aim. But if the man is farther away, and he's already got his gun in his hand, the odds are against the dog making to his target before getting shot.

We can measure these things and figure out most of it if somebody can get the address. Google.com has all the info.

[SnakeDoctor]

That’s the big revelation? It took you 42 repetitions of the same question for you to say “he should’ve used pepper-spray like mailmen do”.

I said about 300 posts ago that he should’ve used a taser if one was available. (Again ... reading comprehension.) If he didn’t have a taser/pepper spray/whatever, his sidearm is an acceptable option.

What a waste of time.

(You need not repeat the entirety of your previous post every time you reply.)

SnakeDoc

[dragnet2]

Instead of shooting weapons at family dogs, in neighborhoods full of kids and old ladies would it not make more sense for law enforcement to use pepper spay and mase like the mailman does?

If he didn’t have a taser/pepper spray/whatever, his sidearm is an acceptable option.

No tex....lol....Ya see this happens on a daily basis in the U.S...Cops shooting family dogs...Why are they not simply doing what the mailman does?

This is not complex...lol

[Dead Corpse]

Which takes me to my point ~ dogs are usually not stupid. They think, plan ahead, consider, and figure out how to attack.

The dog would also remember the searing jolt form the shock collar around it's neck. It'd bark, it'd run up, but it'd also stop well short of the barrier signal tripping that box on it's collar.

I know this because I have a similar unit for my dog. I was worried about how humane it was so I tried it on myself first. Held it with the contacts touching the palm of my hand and tried to walk through the barrier zone.

I don't care how mean and nasty a dog is. It's enough that they won't want to repeat the experience.

[dragnet2]

Why would you lie about not knowing how mail carriers protect themselves against attacking dogs?

[maine-iac7]

You opine "If people can’t clearly tell that your attacking dog is confined ..."

Any officer turned loose with a gun and a badge should have some knowledge of dogs - as they will encounter them often.

If they can't identify the cumbersome control collar on a dog that goes with an invisible fence - they shouldn't be let loose with a gun.

If a officer will panic and shoot to kill a dog still in is own yard - a dog with an easily visible control collar and a dog not known for viciousness - than that officer may well panic in a real danger situation - and shoot the wrong person...or a person walking down the street, whittling on a carving with a pen knife, bothering no one...even shoot him - at 30' - before he's had a chance to turn around to see if he's the one being yelled at.

Anyone turned loose on the public with a gun should have to pass a wimp test.

[Joe 6-pack]

I think a more basic analysis hinges on somebody in the neighborhood who calls the police at the sight of somebody selling meat from the back of a truck.

A neighbor who has that much free time to stick into other peoples' business would have probably called the cops a thousand times before if there truly was a nuisance dog in the neighborhood.

[SnakeDoctor]

If a non-lethal weapon was available, he should’ve used it if tactically possible. If not, his sidearm was an acceptable self-defense alternative.

You need to learn to get to the point faster. That was an excruciating conversation that could’ve been done in about two posts.

SnakeDoc

[Dead Corpse]

Anyone turned loose on the public with a gun should have to pass a wimp test.

All the other BS aside, this is the crux of the biscuit.

[muawiyah]

Found the community. Big lots. The houses are all about 60 feet from the road. That means the dog had covered nearly half the distance to the officer. He was definitely not used to folks wandering about on foot.

There are NO SIDEWALKS.

Some of these people have swimming pools and tennis courts!

Let me add to the formula that we have a cop ~ new officer paid maybe $24k per year, and there are people with mercedes' costing 3 times that parked in a ditch to make way for the family Lamborghini in the garage.

For whatever reason he shot the family dog.

ANSWER: He's toast!

[dragnet2]

What was your motive for lying about not knowing how mail carriers protect themselves against attacking dogs?

[muawiyah]

These look like R2 lots ~ One house, 2 acres. I doubt most of the neighbors were aware these people even had a dog. They look to be quite wealthy. Check http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS375&q=clayton+county+ga+north+shore+drive&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=N+Shore+Dr,+Jonesboro,+GA+30236&gl=us&ei=JNcPTYbrDYX6lwfR1tXsAg&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBMQ8gEwAA

[dblup]

Nope.

You must not have read my post. I said I don’t care to know anything about his family, if he has one.

Goodness, under your logic the name of any criminal or wrong-doer of any kind wouldn’t be published, for fear that someone in the “family” might be affected.

This guy works for US. He is accountable to US. If he screws up-—if he errantly kills a person next time-—we ought to damn well know about it.

WE DO NOT SERVE THE PUBLIC SERVANTS WE PAY.

Okay?

[Joe 6-pack]

Nice area. You’d think the tax base would be big enough to afford cops with two testicles.