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."
PLEASE DON'T SUE US!!
Exactly!
English bulldogs are the biggest sweeties in the world. They seem to only have two speeds though. Slow and sleep. ;-)
Yeah cause it would have been so much better if there'd been a shoot out. Look the police need to able to arrest you it's necessary for civilization to work. That makes it vitally important for us to make sure they are held accountable for abuses of that authority. But the 2nd amendment was not written to make a fair fight for anyone who doesn't like being brought before the law.
Just like in the Soviet Union, Cuba, Nazi Germany, China, North Korea, Rwanda etc.
Stupid begets more stupid, just as the way the Democrat party is never challenged by the press gives harbor to all the criminals, liars, cheats, socialists, etc. and has sent the party of the RATs into the sewer.
The press is insistant on keeping the Pubs clean, however, so Spiro Agnew resigns, Nixon resigns, Bob Packwood, Trent Lott resigns, Newt, Bob Livingston, etc. and the party stays far cleaner and far more honest.
I'm sorry to say I lost mine years ago,and it happened in Cookesville,Tennessee. It was 1967,and I was driving cross country back to Bragg after having served on Okinawa for a couple of years. Visited a buddy teaching ROTC in Reno,Nv,and bought a 56 Caddy Coupe de Ville to play "Hud" with as I drove cross country. Was stopped at a closed gas station outside Cookesville and taking a nap when the local cop tapped on my window with a night stick. SOB took me into custody for "suspiscion of car theft" because I didn't have a title to the Caddy,only a bill of sale and temporary registration. I also didn't have a title for the 1934 Plymouth I was pulling that I had bought in Flagstaff. Next morning I was told that if I posted a 50 dollar bond they could let me go,"pending the successful investigation of ownership". I didn't have the 50 bucks,so they kept me a total of 71 hours before lettting me go,and telling me I had a hour to get out of the county before I would be arrested again for loitering. Oddly enough,both the 34 Plymouth I was pulling and my tool box had mysteriously "dissapeared" from the police impound yard when I was released.
Keep in mind that this was 1967,and that I was traveling on military travel orders and had my dress uniform with me. The cop that arrested me was named "Bill",and he had a MP crossed pistols tie-tac on. He KNEW I had no other choice but to go on to Bragg because I couldn't afford to be charged with AWOL.
"Bill",if you are still out there,I ain't forgot ya,buddy! I hope one day you brag to me about the 34 Plymouth you used to have. I have a little trick I want to teach you.
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