Cop took just 3 seconds to shoot dog

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Thursday, January 9, 2003

[JohnHuang2]

The Tennessee policeman who shot and killed a family's dog during a terrorizing traffic stop took just three seconds to slay the animal after it jumped out its owners' car, reports the Cookeville Herald-Citizen.

Law-enforcement authorities released a videotape of the incident yesterday, which shows the three-second time frame on the tape's counter.

The Cookeville police officer who shot the dog, Eric Hall, has since been reassigned to administrative duties while the incident is probed.

As WorldNetDaily reported, the Smoak family was returning to their home in North Carolina on New Year's Day when three police cars swarmed their vehicle on Interstate 40 in what appeared to be a traffic stop.

The Smoaks appear on CNN

A Tennessee Highway Patrol officer broadcast orders over a bullhorn for driver James Smoak 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 dogs, a boxer-bulldog mix named Patton, 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."

The Smoaks had been pulled over by mistake after someone reported seeing the car getting on the highway with cash flying out from behind the vehicle. James Smoak, it turns out, had mistakenly left his wallet on the roof of the car when he stopped to get gas. Someone within the THP reportedly thought a robbery had occurred, though it turns out none had.

Hall claimed he was acting in self-defense.

"I yelled at the dog to get back, but it attempted to circle me to attack, so I felt that I had no option but to protect myself," the officer wrote in a police report.

Police Chief Bob Terry told the Herald-Citizen, "We are aware there is a lot of criticism out there over this incident, and we want to take [Hall] off the road and let him perform other duties while we get this all resolved." Terry stressed that Hall was not being punished for killing the dog.

The Herald-Citizen reports that "to an average viewer, the scene recorded on the video may not demonstrate the aggressiveness or the threat the officer said he experienced as the dog came toward him."

Terry said he will have two unrelated police agencies perform independent reviews of the incident.

"We once again extend our deepest concerns to the Smoak family for their loss," Terry said. "We know this was a terrible experience for them, and we truly wish that we could undo the events that occurred on the night of Jan. 1."

The Smoaks recently told their story on CNN's "Connie Chung Tonight."

Speaking of Patton, son Brandon Smoak told Chung, "He's the gentlest dog that I've ever been around. He's like Scooby Doo. He wasn't mean at all."

[renosathug]

What IS the right thing? Randomly stopping motorists to see if they have had "one too many", or they are not wearing their seat belt, or, coming, their helmet in the car?

Until the mentality of presumed guilt instead of innocence is reversed, I would have to believe that anyone wanting to enter the field of law enforcement at this time must be on a power trip of some kind.

[MoGalahad]

You missed the point. The whole incident would not have happened if the cops had listened to the people they were harrassing. The cops need to be able to evaluate behavior at some level and separate ordinary citizens who are concerned about a legitimate issue the cops may be ignoring from criminals who are trying to hide something. It should have been clear to the cops from the outset that a terrible mistake had been made. I speak from personal experience on this. Some cops just don't exercise good judgement and those cops pose as much danger to us ordinary citizens as criminals do.

[philomath]

guys like this hot dog

weiner, wanker, parts is parts???

[albee]

...Anyone with an IQ above room temperature should have figured out within 5 seconds that these were NOT bank robbers...

Gee, Bill...I sure wish I had your clairvoyance! Why think of all the Lotto winning numbers I could "figure out in 5 seconds".

Have you ever considered going to work for Miss Cleo? There is money to be made in the Fortune Telling Biz.

[Dimensio]

Just like the woman BATF officer that stomped the kitten of another family to death, smiling the whole time in ecstasy, while on another bogus police-raid of law-abiding citizens...

Woah, when did this happen? Shooting dogs is bad enough, but killing kittens?

[Dimensio]

How DARE you suggest such a disrespectful thing to an officer of the law! The law is absolute, and its enforcers can do no wrong! You are to report to a government facility for re-education immedeately. Then you'll sound like some of the other (minority) FReepers here who are defending these pigs.

[Dan Day]

Watch the video. That dog was wagging its tail!!! Dogs don't wag their tails when they are attacking anyone.

Not only that, but there was a clear bounce in its step, which any dog owner will recognize as a sign of a friendly, non-aggressive attitude.

[exmarine]

It seems honesty and integrity have a good man in you in Georgia. I agree with you about taxpayers footing the bill. I suppose there is no one to police the police. They are above the law. When it comes to cops, suspicion and contempt is my watchword. If cops don't want to get a bad rep from the small percentage (is it small?) of bad cops, then they had better start firing and jailing bad cops. Until they do that, cops don't deserve my admiration or support and won't get it.

[exmarine]

BATF - isn't those the jackbooted thug agency that got their comeuppance at Waco when they made an illegal raid, and then participated in the murder of the children out of revenge later on? Yup. I think that's them. Heinrich Himmler and Rudyard Heidrich would be proud of this group!

[Dan Day]

Did you even look at the video, Einstein? The dog is almost in the cop's lap, when he shoots. How many situations like that have you been in?

Several hundred. Dogs like me.

I have yet to feel the need to blow one's head off.

[renosathug]

Not only that, but there was a clear bounce in its step

Well that Barney of a cop sure showed that dog that it is illegal to bounce in TN!

[AUgrad]

Perhaps you should read more before making that statement. The older officers are complaining locally about this new generation...because the new generation would rather do steroids and shoot things than to "protect and serve".

I've noticed the same thing myself.I am sometimes around LEOs in the course of my work. Most of the older cops (40+) are generally helpful and sincere. It's the young roid monsters with something to prove that are the problem.

[from occupied ga]

, smiling the whole time in ecstasy, while on another bogus police-raid of law-abiding citizens...

No one know if he was smiling because they wear ski masks when they do this stuff.

Woah, when did this happen?

About 4 years ago in NC I think. Raided the house of a gun show promoter and stomped the kitten flat. No consequences (of course).

[exmarine]

Only a sociopath could sleep at night after participating in the terrorization of that family. Seeing that video enrages me, especially seeing the mug of that hillbilly police chief on TV. What's his name, Roscoe P. Coletrain? And watching those trigger-happy thugs surround that car like they were escaped convicts, circling the car like executioners! Unbelievable! No leadership whatsoever in that police department - a bunch of malicious little boys reliving their childhoods when they played cops and robbers! I can't watch that video again - it makes me too angry. My Marine Corps blood is boiling!

[spokanite]

"BTW did anyone else hear the 911 call where a lady states the car was doing 110 mph ?? And money was being thrown out of the car ??? When the man just left his wallet on top of the car. And at 110 if she saw it that fast.....the wallet would have flown off the roof well before that speed was reached...."


What this woman did could be the beginning of things to come. Tick someone off while you're driving down the road and a cell phone call to the police is made. You could be made out to be a hardened criminal by that call. Next thing you know, you're pulled over, yanked out of your car a gun point, hand cuffed and hauled off to jail. All because of a cell phone call made by someone you may have tick off.

Too far-fetched?

I'l be watching and listening!

[Nuke'm Glowing]

It's sad. I think the television show "COPS" is as much of a problem as the roid rage...

[Dick Bachert]

Sounds like you've had some really BAD experiences with LE people.

FYI, that cop mentioned in the gun control context is here in Georgia.

And I don't appreciate your calling me a liar.

[Dan Day]

until the dog attacked the human. Too bad. Bad dog!

If you can see an "attack" in the video, then you're just as clueless, reckless, and irresponsible as the so-called "police officer", and you shouldn't be in a position of authority either.

The dog VERY CLEARLY was not attacking. The officer is either a complete idiot, or dangerously trigger-happy. Either way, he has amply demonstrated his uniftness for duty. How long before he similarly grossly misreads the actions/attitude of a non-agressive *human* and shoots *them*?

He needs to be off the force immediately. And I'm likewise not at all impressed with *your* judgement.

[headsonpikes]

"...and stomped the kitten flat."

I'm sure you've got chapter and verse to justify this, too, Mr. W. Sepulchre.

[from occupied ga]

And I don't appreciate your calling me a liar.

Just where did I call you a liar?