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Cop took just 3 seconds to shoot dog
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Thursday, January 9, 2003

Posted on 01/08/2003 11:35:54 PM PST by 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."


TOPICS: Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 110mphlieon911; afraidoflittledog; algoretroopers; banglist; dog; doggieping; donutwatch; gestapovolunteers; jackbootedthugs; leo; liberalslovethis; officerdepends; pigs; poorwittlepowiceman; rottennogoodsobs; screamslikeagirl; shootfirstandlast; triggerhappy; waggingtailshooter
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To: Wordsmith
If Whitcomb's story is accurate, why is the sniper who pulled the trigger considered the one at fault rather than those who designed the HRT response and gave the orders?

Two part answer: a) Obviously the responsibility goes all the way up the chain of command. b) The journey up that chain begins with Lon Horiouchi: Horiouchi would have to say "I may have been given illegal orders" and then it would be time to look at who gave the orders.

261 posted on 01/09/2003 1:42:16 PM PST by eno_
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To: Wordsmith
>>- If Whitcomb's story is accurate, why is the sniper who pulled the trigger considered the one at fault rather than those who designed the HRT response and gave the orders? Seems that more than anything
this was a massive failure, if not deliberate crime, on the part of leadership.<<

Are you familiar with the Nuremburg trials? "I wass just following orderrsss" is no defense.
262 posted on 01/09/2003 1:43:48 PM PST by SerpentDove
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To: Tijeras_Slim; Rifleman
...hey, I've only read Point of Impact about 15 times...:)

"Mr Vincent, that bullet is not to be inserted in-" :)

263 posted on 01/09/2003 1:46:35 PM PST by Byron_the_Aussie
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To: SerpentDove; eno_
Thanks! I agree, "just following orders" is not necessarily a valid excuse. But, from Whitcomb's account at least, the snipers weren't given enough information to make that call. They were told, in essence, "officer down attempting to serve a legimate warrant, suspects armed and dangerous". The decision to shoot first, while near the extreme end of the list of valid responses, didn't necessarily seem to Horiuchi (he was the shooter, correct?) to be entirely off the reservation based on the limited information the HRT response team was given. This is why I'd like to read up on it some more. I wasn't following the news back in '94, and have only sketchy knowledge of the incident to go with my reading of Cold Zero.
264 posted on 01/09/2003 1:51:25 PM PST by Wordsmith
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To: dirtboy
You, I'll answer.

If the cops had a description of a gigantic bald guy with a red beard as a dangerous felon on the loose, and they stopped me at gunpoint, questioned me, discovered their mistake, and released me, I'd have a story to tell. And no complaints.

If I had a dog that attacked one of them "growling" and so forth, and he shot it, I'd also have no complaints.

You're my FRiend; you asked, I answered.

So if this unleashes a fresh flood of clueless, don't-ask-me-to-take-off-the-tinfoil-and-think abuse on me, you answer it. I'll also forward you the FRemail abuse.

Dan
(c;

265 posted on 01/09/2003 1:51:27 PM PST by BibChr
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To: JohnHuang2
The officer should be arrested and charged with murder.

Even in the scenerio he is trying to lie and pass off as being the case, he could have shot him in the tail or something, not the head.

He is guilty of getting his jollies by offing a dog. He should be set to prison for the sick bastard he is.
266 posted on 01/09/2003 1:55:50 PM PST by rwfromkansas (www.fairtax.org: It is time for a FAIRTAX!)
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To: 70times7; Travis McGee
..this was an enormous screw up by those cops, and now they are scrambling to do damage control. We should be thankful their ineptitude didn't kill a person....

Exactly.

Just by the way I don't think the shooting was an accident. My guess is that shooting arrestees' dogs when they are running loose at the scene is SOP for this outfit. What better way to intimidate the owner into immediate submission? I find it very pertinent that the boss cop is so arrogant as to expect us to disbelieve the evidence of our own eyes. He has the air of someone who's an expert in stonewalling with lies. What we should really be thinking about after viewing this video is the number of BATF raids on gun dealers homes, where someone in the family has been shot, and the agency head has then said 'we were only defending ourselves.' Hopefully all gun dealers and others under direct threat from police state agencies have installed those cheap mini cameras in their homes, thereby giving a chance to record cop brutality, in the same way it has been recorded with this dog shooting.

267 posted on 01/09/2003 1:56:26 PM PST by Byron_the_Aussie
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To: patriciaruth
He shot the dog in the head and reacted wrongly. He could hvae shot the dog in a spot that would not have resulted in certain death. He deliberately killed the dog and should be held accountable in a court of law for the crime of murder.
268 posted on 01/09/2003 1:58:00 PM PST by rwfromkansas (www.fairtax.org: It is time for a FAIRTAX!)
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To: BibChr
If I had a dog that attacked one of them "growling" and so forth, and he shot it, I'd also have no complaints.

I think there are two issues on this level. First of all, the cops could have heeded the Smoaks, taken a second and simply closed the car door, and nothing would have gone awry and this story would never have happened. And second, I think the cop who shot the dog probably overreacted. What should come from this is better training of police to quit being full-blown hardasses in every instance, and think a bit more - with all three people in the car handcuffed, and the number of cops on the scene, they could have done a much better job here.

269 posted on 01/09/2003 1:58:55 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: BibChr
Dan, "Let your 'yes' be yes, and your 'no' be no." "Thou shalt not bear false witness."

The dog didn't attack a human. For you to state that he did is a lie. You should not lie, as God's Holy Word tells you not to.

Either do not lie, or change your login from that deceptive acronym for "biblical Christian." n'Kay?

270 posted on 01/09/2003 2:01:28 PM PST by Gargantua
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To: dirtboy
Not inconceivable.

But as I see the video (102), the dog looks to me (as I said) to be pretty much in the cop's lap when he shoots. Othrwise, check #140, if you haven't already.

Dan

271 posted on 01/09/2003 2:02:54 PM PST by BibChr
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To: headsonpikes
I winced myself.... and I wrote it... but it would be fitting, for sure!
272 posted on 01/09/2003 2:04:06 PM PST by dcwusmc ("The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself.")
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To: dirtboy
For you.
273 posted on 01/09/2003 2:04:30 PM PST by BibChr
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To: BibChr
But as I see the video (102), the dog looks to me (as I said) to be pretty much in the cop's lap when he shoots. Othrwise, check #140, if you haven't already.

I checked the video. It was rather inconclusive - however, my impression is that the dog was not behaving in an agressive manner. I own a very protective malamute/shepherd mix, and if she thought I or my wife were being threatened, she would not amble out of the car, she would be going full-speed in a line for the person's throat. That dog seemed to be meandering around - not the mark of a dog wanting to attack someone.

274 posted on 01/09/2003 2:10:41 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: Gargantua
Chill out. Dan said "if", and it's his opinion that the dog was threatening. I disagree - and the video is hardly conclusive. Best to let the investigators sort this one out.
275 posted on 01/09/2003 2:12:02 PM PST by dirtboy
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To: Nuke'm Glowing
"The problem is not the event, it's the trend"

This video is of the notorious Sheriff of Davidson County NC back in 96:

Right click and save: http://libertyteeth.com/Hegge.mpg

Not for the bandwidth impaired!

This county has had its share of problems and is also aprt of the story with the couple who lost their dog.
276 posted on 01/09/2003 2:13:02 PM PST by Stew Padasso
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Comment #277 Removed by Moderator

To: rwfromkansas
He deliberately killed the dog and should be held accountable in a court of law for the crime of murder.

I'm a dog-lover and a (small-l) libertarian, but don't you think you're the one overreacting a bit here? Last time I checked, the crime of murder required a human victim.

278 posted on 01/09/2003 2:19:41 PM PST by Lurking Libertarian
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To: BibChr
But as I see the video (102), the dog looks to me (as I said) to be pretty much in the cop's lap when he shoots.

Whoop-de-freaking-doo.

I've had countless dogs "pretty much in my lap". That's what friendly dogs do. Not once was I pansy-ass enough to think that having a dog approach me was a threat to my life which necessitated blowing the dog's head off "just in case".

There's absolutely no justification for your claim that the dog "attacked" the officer, and if you think mere proximity proves an "attack", you're as clueless as the loose-cannon cop -- and should be kept equally far from lethal weapons and positions of authority.

Jobs on the police department should be limited to those people who are bright enough to be able to tell the difference between a dog "attack" and an approaching dog -- and who would be able to deal even with an attacking dog in a more sane manner (the pepper spray that all officers carry works wonders on dogs).

Instead, the officer was clearly acting on a "woo baby, I get to kill somethin'!" level. Give him twenty years flipping hamburgers to think it over, where he can't hurt anybody if the makes another stupid judgement call.

279 posted on 01/09/2003 2:21:07 PM PST by Dan Day
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To: ambrose
I didn't realize that there was now capital punishment for killing a dog. You and several others on this thread need to chill a bit here. IMO this was a mistake by the cop, and probably in training and tactics as much as an individual mistake. No human life was lost here, and I imagine the Smoaks will get fair compensation for what they have been through. But all this over-the-top commentary isn't helping - instead, call for police departments to curtail the hardass attitude they instill in their cops.
280 posted on 01/09/2003 2:21:08 PM PST by dirtboy
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