Posted on 04/08/2011 6:13:36 PM PDT by fuzzybutt
MESQUITE, Texas - A YouTube video of a police officer using pepper spray on a baby squirrel has sparked outrage in the city of Mesquite, Tx.
A student recorded the incident. In the video, the officer is seen spraying the animal after it began chasing students around at Kimbrough Middle School.
Students are heard begging the cop, reffered to as Officer Davis on the video, to stop with cries of "No!" and "Don't spray him!"
Mesquite Police Department has defended the officer's actions.
Sgt. Wes Talley said the officer stood between a group of students and the animal because he thought it may have been rabid.
(Excerpt) Read more at myfoxny.com ...
While generally true, I've been at a number of public parks and university campuses where people where in the habit of feeding squirrels, pigeons, etc. and they had no fear of approaching people. If that were the norm in the area of this school, I'd have to say that the officer over-reacted, but if, as the article suggests, the squirrel had been chasing kids around, it probably was rabid and the officer would appear to have acted in good faith.
BINGO! Usually its Soccer moms, hippie thugs, city dwellers, or internet warriors looking for any excuse to lash out against the police who (rightfully) gave them tickets or stomped out their joints in the past.
That is why if he had the IQ of a coal bucket he would have turned a trash can down over the little thing, a rabid animals foams at the mouth and staggers, they also tend to try and bit there own tails, this little fellow was just to little to know that some humans are more animal than he is.
We have a yard full of squirrels - they run like crazy AWAY from us.
That rodent was not acting normal.
A “squirrel rehabilitator”? Did you find that in the yellow pages?
Unless its a bear or cougar, in which case it is definitely looking for a snack.
Sometimes these matters are very complicated.
Wow you are ignorant... rabid animals in the Prodromal Phase or Furious Phase often do not show any “foaming at the mouth” (a misnomer) and some animals never show staggering.
Like I said, you are projecting.
I consider them my emergency food supply. ;)
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I am pretty sure that there has never been a case of rabies transmitted to a human from a squirrel.
Agree ....when is squirrel season ?
Our children are stupid!!!!
Does pepper spray taste at all spicy?? ‘Cuz squirrel + salt + pepper + spice + smoker = dinner
While you are correct that many will criticize them no matter what. What you fail to realize is there is a very good reason for such criticism. Far too many cops overreact to far too many situations. This is not a case of the chicken or the egg arguments. Cops are being criticized these days because of the never ending supply of stories where they break laws, use excessive force on grandma or 8 year olds... And so on.
Cops are alienating themselves from society, creating more and more people who dislike them, don't trust them and generally avoid them at all costs due to their own making.
No one wakes up one day and just decides to dislike cops, it's always based upon either their eyes being opened to the level of police miscondut that pollutes the ranks of law enforcement today, or it's because they suffered a wrong at the hands of idiot cops.
Or folks simply tired of the BS that cops seem to get away with as "public servants" when their employers are raked over the coals for the same thing.
Just yesterday, I followed two Bernalillo County (Albuquerque area) Sheriff's deputies who were in plain clothes driving their cruisers. They were in a bigger hurry than traffic, and at times were going 10-15 MPH over the limit, no lights, no sirens. By the time they turned off on a side road, they'd crossed into a neighboring county. They certainly weren't responding to anything, as they were now fully out of their home jurisdiction. You can be damned certain they'd likely pull me over tomorrow if they caught me doing what they were doing.
Those types of LEOs are the ones that I have no respect for.
When I was a child we had a problem one august week with a rabid squirril who chased children until one of the fathers shot it.
Wrong, dingle, I have killed several rabid animals. Have you!! Also know a squirrel when it is begging.
I partial to fried and served with a rice dressing myself.
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