Posted on 01/04/2003 1:21:52 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Losing your wallet in Cookeville, Tenn., can get you handcuffed on the side of the highway and your dog shot to death by police – at least, that was the experience of a North Carolina family returning from a vacation in Nashville.
James Smoak apparently left his wallet on the roof of the family station wagon New Year's Day while getting gas prior to pulling onto Interstate 40, reports the Cookeville Herald-Citizen.
He discovered it was missing after three police cars swarmed his vehicle in what appeared to be a traffic stop.
But this was no ordinary traffic stop.
According to Smoak, a Tennessee Highway Patrol officer broadcast orders over a bullhorn for him to toss the keys out of the car window, get out with his hands up and walk backwards to the rear of the car. Smoak obeyed and was subsequently ordered onto his knees and handcuffed at gunpoint. Officers similarly handcuffed his wife, Pamela, and their 17-year-old son with their guns drawn.
As the troopers were putting the family members inside the patrol car, one of the Smoak family bulldogs came out of the car and headed toward one of the Cookeville officers who were assisting the THP troopers.
"That officer had a flashlight on his shotgun, and the dog was going toward that light, and the officer shot him, just blew his head off," Pamela Smoak told the Herald-Citizen. "We had begged them to shut the car doors so our dogs wouldn't get out, [but] they didn't do that."
Cookeville Police Officer Eric Hall later defended his actions to the Herald-Citizen.
"A dog, I believe to be a pit-bull, jumped from the suspect vehicle, singled me out from the other officers, and charged toward me growling in an aggressive manner, Hall described.
"I yelled at the dog to 'get back' but it attempted to circle me to attack, so I felt that I had no other option but to protect myself. I fired once at the dog, instantly putting him down," he continued.
Following the slaying of the dog, it was some time before the family learned why they had been stopped. At one point, a state trooper told them they "matched the description" in a robbery that had occurred in Davidson County.
It was a while longer before someone in authority figured out that the officers had stopped and were holding the very family that someone in Davidson County had assumed had been robbed.
"Finally, they asked me my name and I told them my name, date of birth and other information, and they talked by radio to someone in Davidson County and finally realized that a mistake had been made," James Smoak said.
The 38-year-old said the officers then told them they were released and apologized.
"A lady in Davidson County had seen that wallet fly off our car and had seen money coming out of it and going all over the road, and somehow that became a felony and they made a felony stop, but no robbery or felony had happened," Pamela Smoak said.
"Here we are just a family on vacation, and we had to suffer this," James Smoak added.
Beth Womack, a THP spokesperson in Nashville, told the Herald-Citizen an internal affairs investigation is underway and that every effort will be made to "find out exactly what happened and why."
"As I understand it," she said, "a report was made in Davidson County to our officers that this car had been seen leaving at a high rate of speed and that a significant amount of money had come out of the car and someone became suspicious," she said.
An internal investigation is also underway at the Cookeville Police Department.
On Friday, Chief Bob Terry issued a statement stressing the department was called in as back-up by the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the officers' role was "secondary to what the THP termed as a 'felony' stop, a possible car-jacking."
"Unfortunately, during the THP's process of gaining control of the situation, a very rare thing occurred," Terry's statement continued. "The Smoaks had been traveling with family dogs, and one of them got loose. ... it clearly approached one of our officers in a threatening manner. Our officer first tried to call the dog down, but after it kept approaching aggressively and started to circle him, the officer took the only action he could to protect himself and gain control of the situation."
So you think we don't kow about that little stunt you pulled back there, DO YA, PUNK.
And ya claim to just be out with the missus and the family on a family vacation FROM ANOTHER STATE!
Well I got news for ya, BuddyBoy, that's not how we spend our vacations down here in North Carolina. Whatd'ya say we just take a look in the car there, NOW THROW OUT THE KEYS AND DON'T EVEN THINK OF MAKING A RUN FOR IT!
KSSSHRRT...Deputy Fife, the Sheriff says not to make a big deal about it!
I believe there is plenty of truth in everything you say. Yet most of the cops that I have met and know personally are very nice folks. I figure, tho, that there are many that are drawn to the force for the wrong reasons + quite a few that don't handle confrontations well.
'Course lots of folks go into politics for the same reasons, to exercise power and control people. Especially Democrats.
As I posted on this other thread dicussing this subject:
Felony Stop Leaves Family Traumatized.
Sometimes otherwise law abiding citizens are forced to obtain justice outside the courtroom. That's a sad fact considering all the good police that are out there.
www.putnampit.com has documented for years the ineptitude and corruption that exists in local government in the area.
For example the only police officer shot last year was by another drunk off-duty police officer who got mad because the officer who he shot would not go with him to kill a particular civilian. The now former Cookeville police officer who shot the officer in the neck was given pre-trial diversion (no conviction if the 5 months of probation are served without incident).
Bureaucrats in government have trouble holding each other accountable thus creating a climate where mistakes and other bad acts are swept away. Of course, problems keep surfacing because the foundation of good management is weak. Poor management is the one problem that never want to sweep away; they just move the dust around.
Evil Evil shiite has darkened the soul of America...drunk with power incompetant and evil armed police...
And they claim citizens are too icompetent to own firearms?
Come on...robbers steal the family car and the dogs just go along for the ride....
BTW those dogs...werent pitbulls....you freeking evil morons...they were bulldogs...and had you let the family members calm the dog and tell it to get back in the car it would have...you just couldnt wait to kill something...today it was their dog...and you will get away with it...tomorow emboldend and drunk with your kill....it will be another human being....You are a psycho and have no business carrying a gun...you are a gangster...a nazi...a criminal...with a badge..
The police state cometh
To Protect and Serve (Protect our pensions and serve ourselves...to your property )
How many times did the cops have the DC snipers in their hands...and let them get away... Had a discription yet since it was a "politically incorrect" one..harrased "White Males"...Vietnam combat vet-gun magazine reading-bible toting-working class....
Now in Maryland having kept their "tips" police such as these will invade the homes of those who own the wrong type of gun or had an evil neighbor turn them in...using the police to hurt their neighbors..
And even if the cops are wrong...you will be hurt..financially...legally....in your property...etc...but they will have instilled "the fear" and "intimidation" they desire all the sheep to be under...... And these are the administrators of HOMELAND DEFENSE?
I am outraged...I am incensed...I am acromonious... and a White Male Combat Vet Who Reads Gun Magazines Totes a Bible and am from a Working Class and Career Military Family....
I wondered about what type of "bull dog" it was. If it had been an English bulldog it would have been criminal. We had one it was the sweetist dog I have ever run across! Not to mention how much money it would cost to replace that type of dog.
Never mind last post. I did not read far enough
Seems to me that the owners of the dog should have controled the dog on command. This was not memtioned.
English bulldogs while being sweet are not the brightest dogs in the world. It took us for ever to teach ours to obey the command to sit and even then it would not stay still more that 5 seconds before it would get up and explore some more.
The English bulldog would have wanted to go and meet everybody. Most peoples first reaction to it is stark terror when one approaches them (even if the owner has it on a lead), even when the owner tell that person that the dog is friendly. The jutting jaw scares people and most dogs. A macho cop who does not know the breed would shoot first no questions asked. It is a real pity because I do not think that there is a sweeter dog around.
Get used to tasting asphalt, or boot leather.
We do not know what manner of bulldog the people had. It would have been your basic English Bullie, or, if it was an American Bulldog, you can see how the cop may have fired in fear. In no way am I excusing such behavior, but I am saying we do not have all the facts, nor do we know the breed of dog involved.
I had to pay a freakin fine and move just to avoid future encounters with this racist cop.
I believe your account wholeheartedly, yet, I think you are making a mistake by taking everything as "racist."
These cops are just BAD cops, and -- as I can tell you from my experiences in San Antonio, where the force is multi-ethnic to a fault: Bad cops come in ALL colors; and GOOD ones come in all colors.
My worst brush was an incident my son and I had with two cops -- one white and one Hispanic, and they were both UGLY. Ethnicity doesn't seem to fit the bill here; MEAN-SPIRITEDNESS does.
Incidentally, I was saved from a threatened overnight trip to the slammer by the supervisor of these two cops -- and my "savior" was a black cop.
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