Posted on 06/13/2012 4:57:34 AM PDT by Paladin2
FLORENCE, Texas (KXAN) - The chief of Florence police will not be disciplined for an incident last week in which she shot two dogs that were on their owner's property.
On Tuesday night, Florence City Council members decided against any disciplinary action after other people reported the dogs were being aggressive towards them earlier in the day.
The owner of the dogs has hired a lawyer and was advised not to be at Tuesday night's council meeting.
During the at-times contentious meeting, a handful of people thanked the chief for protecting their children from the dogs that had threatened them.
Others expressed concerns about the chief firing the shots before animal control could take charge of the situation.
The city says they received many calls on June 1 about two dogs, a pitbull mix and a Rhodesian Ridgeback, running loose and threatening people.
Chief Julie Elliot Abshire said when she went to the home to make contact with the owners, the dogs charged at her. That is when she fired three shots that wounded both dogs.
Both eventually died.
The council asked people at the meeting to make sure they are following the proper laws that pertain to dogs, such as licensing, vaccinations and leash laws.
Nothing to see here.
Move along.
"We've heard Vybiral's side of the story but Tuesday was the first time we heard the Police Chief's side. She says she's sorry. But also tells FOX 7, if she had to do it all over again she wouldn't do anything different.
In the past year, she says she has issued two citations to the family regarding their dogs. She has received a lot of complaints about the dogs chasing people.
FOX 7 did speak with one mother, who filed a police report after she claimed the dogs chased her 10-year-old son who was later rescued by an adult.
Tuesday's meeting was to get the word out about what happened that day. It was also to remind residents to comply with city law which requires dog registration and keeping pets from endangering the public, something the Police Chief said this family did not do."
I have a big problem with people that let their animals run loose. Case in point:
My neighbor has a black lab. Pretty nice doggie most of the time. He lets it wander in his front yard unchained.
One day I was in my garage, and heard a low growl behind me. As I turned around, that lab was there, crouched down, hair standing up on it’s back, growling at me...
I happened to be getting a shovel from my garage at the time, and had it in my hand..
A full spinning swing and I hit it right on the side of the head with the shovel. The dog took off.
I told my neighbors about it. They swore they would contain their dog.
4 years later, and the damn thing still runs around loose in the front yard ( but it will not even come near me!)
We have a small farm - we rent out the house and go out there to use our shop and pond. Our dogs are off leash. Occasionally one of the neighborhood dogs shows up and goes to trot into our shop. I’ve had a lot of success using dog whisperer techniques. I step towards the dog, hissing and with one hand up and I point at the dog and then draw a horizontal line and say “out” in THE VOICE. It works. I’ve even done that at the borders. One small dog is allowed on the farm but not in the shop. He plays with our dogs. I have noticed that when two large dogs hang out together, the energy is different. I don’t know that I would try to face down two.
I agree. Dogs should not be left to run around. The country may be different unless they are a wild pack. I did see a goat playing around with several dogs one time in the country. He thought he was a dog.
Dogs should never be chained either. It makes them aggressive.
It was a different mindset when I grew up in the 60s riding my bike around neighborhoods here in the rural south. Most of the homes had unpenned, unchained dogs in the yard and a good number of them took great joy in chasing kids on bicycles. The bad times were when I was riding uphill and had no chance to outpace them. I would get off of my bike and use it as a shield...but they would still try to flank me. Another trick was to bend down as if I was picking up a rock and that would usually scare them away. I remember having teeth marks on my leather shoes when one of them tried to chew on my foot as I rode past.
The thinking back then (in these rural settings) was that the dogs had a right to defend their territory. Visitors knew to stay in their cars until the owner called the dogs off. I am not saying this is a good way to be - in fact it is definitely not hospitable - but it is still how some people think.
I would have been better off if my family had had a large dog so I'd have had a better understanding of how to deal with them.
I'd also observe that many dogs that liked to chase things on the road ended up as road kill, so maybe there was some natural selection going on and so the dogs "chasing" me on my bike would break off withing a hundred feet of their driveway. None ever really touched me.
I have two (barely) large dogs now and am surprised at how many people are fearful of a Lab on a leash while walking down the sidewalk. Some small kids apparently like to tease/taunt dogs and can get an aggressive response even from the Lab.
There is also a difference in the reports of how many times the dogs were shot and the location of said shootings. No mention by the cop/city about errant round(s) going into the residence.
I think that's something that transcends all cultures. A number of Military K9 handlers from Viet Nam have described how a lot of Vietnamese kids would hide and dart out of nowhere to try and tag the dogs then get away.
Sometimes the dogs were faster than the kids.
I hope Sgt Elliot-Abshire gets her ass handed to her in court. She’s a public menace.
Rhodesian Ridgebacks are pack instinct animals (probably more-so than any other domesticated dog breed). They are used to guard diamond mines in Africa and they do pack up to kill Lions with pretty good success.
I know a Rhodesian Ridgeback breeder and heaven help you if she’s not home and you go in anyhow (you will die being mauled to death and you will have no chance to run or defend yourself). They are bad enough when she is there - although once they know you are o.k. to be in the house (after being scared nearly to death) then they are generally nice lap dogs (until the next time you visit).
I’m not so sure I’d be insinuating that the police were there to do the ordinary shoot the dog first ask questions later thing like we see on no knock warrants and (more to the point) other situations where it surely seems like there is no need to kill the family dog. This appears to be a dog owner with little to no respect for anyone else or local ordinances since a read of the article shows they have been cited more than once and numerous complaints have been lodged against them by several people in their neighborhood.
I think that's true of most dogs.
There's a reason for the suggestion to "let sleeping dogs lie", especially if they are on their front porch.
decided against any disciplinary action after other people reported the dogs were being aggressive towards them earlier in the day
Can we apply this to human criminals??
If some dirtbag was aggressive to you yesterday and today when you see him you have a gun can you shoot him??
No one here seems to have a problem with the cops coming on to PRIVATE property, apparently WITHOUT a warrant and killing the dogs.
Seesh, what has FR descended to?
If justice prevails, this family will be moving into a VERY nice house in the near future, courtesy of the people who elected this joke of a police chief.
Did she already have her gun drawn and prepared to shoot them???
I suspect that this "Chief" might have been angry at "having" to visit the house again.
As others have suggested, many mail "carriers" have learned to bribe dogs as they approach a house rather than shoot them.
Going around back, not so much.
There seems to a discrepancy on how many shots were fired and where the shootings took place. Each dog supposedly had two wounds and one was supposedly shot out back within the fenced area behind the house. Then there is the round that went into the house. How all of that is consistent with 3 rounds is a bit puzzling.
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.