The Smoaks appear on CNN
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."
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.
"Mr Vincent, that bullet is not to be inserted in-" :)
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;
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.
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.
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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