Posted on 10/25/2013 5:06:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Boise family is outraged over the death of their 5-year-old dog. Sunday afternoon, a Boise Police officer fired his weapon at the dog, killing it.
For years, Gabrielle Stropkai found companionship in her dog, Kita, calling her a lover and a friend for her son Hayden to grow up with.
“We have kids who run up and pull her tail and grab her by the back of the neck and get in her face and she does nothing but love on them,” said Stropkai.
However, as two Boise patrol officers were investigating a theft that was reported in the area of Woodlawn and 28th Sunday afternoon they felt threatened by Kita.
According to Boise Police spokesman Charles McClure, Kita began running toward them and the officers felt forced to protect themselves.
Neighbors like Bryan Adams were outside at that time and saw it happen.
“She was walking by and went 'ruff ruff' just a couple of little ruffs and that's when she was walking by she didn't jump at him or anything,” explained Adams.
Other witnesses to the incident described the dog as barking and snarling at officers as it approached them.
Stropkai tells KTVB she let Kita outside to use the bathroom and she was in her sight when the officer made an instant decision.
“In about five seconds he pulled his weapon, asked whose dog it was, and shot her in the back of the head,” said Stropkai.
Stropkai explains her two-year-old son Hayden was also witness to the shooting.
“Hayden was outside, about two feet away from me,” said Stropkai's mother, Michelle Pierott. McClure said the two officers were standing in a parking lot when one decided to fire a single shot at the dog when it came within three feet of them.
Kita, a mixed breed, was hit and died at the scene.
“By the time I came out she was down, (I) ran over and looked back and said you just shot her,” said Pierott. “Kita wouldn't have attacked.”
However, the Boise Police Department disagrees. In a statement issued Sunday evening by the department Deputy Chief Pete Ritter had this to say.
"Officers never want to harm an animal. The dog came upon the officers quickly and they felt it was about to bite them. This is a very dog friendly community. Many officers have dogs. We work with dogs. Dogs running loose are a safety risk, for people and for the dogs. This was a very unfortunate situation for everyone involved."
The family believes the officer acted too fast and although an investigation was launched, the biggest worry on their minds is Kita’s six two-week old puppies.
“Now we are going to have to figure out how to keep them alive... without her,” said Pierott. The City of Boise does have a leash ordinance; dog owners are required to keep their dogs on leash, except in specified areas.
If the dog was approaching officers as they alleged, how did the dog get shot in the back of the head?
You bet, if the dog was allegedly approaching them, how does the dog get shot in the back of the head?
“Flame on bootlickers.”
Say what? The crowd at FR has never been particularly pro-police.
Thanks for letting us know you are basically a coward like those cops,too ready to kill just because you “feel” threatened.
And I don’t give a damn about your “justifications”.
Absent an actual attack or assault,keep your finger OFF the trigger.
A dog shot in the back of the head in the manner of this incident obviously wasn’t attacking anyone.
I once worked with an officer who got fired for finally exceeding the patience of the chief.
He carried an unauthorized .22 at night on patrol in the city for shooting any cat not wearing a collar, he routinely approached drivers at traffic stops with gun in hand, he avoided well-earned speeding tickets and other traffic offenses by showing a badge(which is the dirty side of the “professional courtesy” BS),and he hacked the department’s computer system.
Of course he was all too soon hired by another department a few cities distant.
I think there's plenty of culpability to go around. Certainly the owner is not without blame...but in a sane world, leash law violations are enforced with a ticket, not a hail of gunfire.
I disagree. Anyone dumb enough to let their dog run loose in a neighborhood is asking for trouble. The lady owner killed her own dog.
If the dog was approaching officers as they alleged, how did the dog get shot in the back of the head?
Complete bull.
There are very few fenced yards and lots of people who have dogs that they let out for the dog to do his business.
For some reason these dogs remain alive and kicking unless the JBT are around.
I suggest you seek treatment for your dog phobia.
The lady wasn’t there to explain. (Probably because she didn’t want to face neighbors whose yards she was letting her dog poop in.)
The dog didn’t speak English. The officers were investigating a theft in the neighborhood. Some neighbors said: “Other witnesses to the incident described the dog as barking and snarling at officers as it approached them. “
What do those neighbors have against that dog and why?
Because the 2 officers will separate to be on different sides of a threat.
This is happening way too often. Seems every day I read about the cops shooting a family dog, some in homes, some in their yards and some on leashes. Doesn’t seem to matter. For those of you who say the cops need to be trained better, I think it is just the opposite. I believe they are being trained to shoot the dogs —
As I stated the owner certainly has some degree of culpability in this. I know better than to let my dog go anywhere near cops; perhaps she should have known better. That said, I still don't see how this "vicious snarling" dog got shot in the back of the head while *attacking*. Was the dog attacking them with her ass?
Let’s assume that the neighbors who said it was a ruff-ruff dog are right.
What would prompt other neighbors to say it was snarling?
What would they think of the dog and the lady that they would lie about her dog snarling?
If that's the case, the officer was shooting at his partner who was being attacked.
Better yet, let's assume it was snarling. Do we shoot all dogs that snarl from here on out? What if it was on the lady's property in compliance with the leash law, and it snarled at the cops? Would they still have been justified in shooting it?
Were did ya get that?
It's not what the article said.
In fact, the article said the dog was shot in back of the head when the dog came *upon* the officers.
Are you suggesting the officers had time to separate and then shot towards each other?
And if what you say is true, would it still not put the shooter behind the dog?
No. The back of the head isn’t always execution style. There’s a front of a head and a back of a head in the same way there’s a front of a car and a back of a car.
My car getting hit in the back could mean the back fender instead of the back bumper. That’s still the back.
And if the dog is flanked by the two officers and it’s hit in the back of the head neither officer is in the line of fire.
“Thanks for letting us know you are basically a coward like those cops, too ready to kill just because you “feel” threatened.”
No, I’ve “felt” attacked by stray dogs before. They have attacked my dogs, they have attacked me. And single dogs are bad enough. When they attack in packs they are deadly.
I have scars on one arm from where a loose pit bull grabbed it, and I had to slice its damned throat with a knife. And afterwards, with a dead pit bull and my arm bleeding, the owner comes out of his house and berates me for killing his “widdow puppy”.
I send him a whopping doctors bill and a note from my attorney that if he didn’t pay it promptly, I was going to sue him for five times as much. He paid.
Sorry, but I distinguish between a cop going on your property and offing your pooch, and when a stupid owner doesn’t keep control of his animal and it leaves his property to menace others.
Where are you getting all this?
And if the officers were on the dog's flanks, the dog wasn't really attacking either one of them, now was it?
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