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."
In my view, he would have done as he did in this instance, he would have shot the poor stupid drunk...which is why this moron needs to be fired and disgraced from the profession of LEO.
Sorry, I don't know of any paperboys who are required to make "felony stops" and expose themselves to such dangerous situations. My daughter was bitten in the face by a "friendly" pitbull and required plastic surgery to correct the damage done by the "friendly" dog who was wagging its tail as it approached her. The dog that bit my daughter was not operating in a strange situation where his family was being treated in a manner he did not understand. I have had many dogs in my life... and everyone of them would have attacked ANYONE who was mistreating one of our family members. That same daughter that was bitten was later SAVED from being attacked by one of our dogs who jumped on the badguy and bit him bloody. That same dog probably would not be able to distinguish a rapist from a police officer handcuffing one of her own and would attack either with the same agressiveness and enthusiasm.
A boss I once had was bitten by a pitbull who was on a chain that was too long for safety. As my boss knocked on the front door of a house a the dog on a 50 foot chain, tethered 30 feet away, attacked him. His left arm was bitten to the bone and the dog's jaws had to be PRIED off of his arm before the dog would let go, even with the dog's owner screaming at him to stop. Officer Hall did not need wait for such a bite before defending himself.
There are some on this thread who advocated a "warning shot" to scare the dog... or shooting to wound the dog. "Warning shots" are NOT PERMITTED under police procedure. Shooting in the air is forbidden because what goes UP must come DOWN and could hit a truly innocent somewhere in range. Shooting toward the ground can result in bouncing bullets and also may hit bystanders. Police are not trained to shoot to wound; too many police officers are killed by a wounded perpetrator. But that is not really germaine to this incident.
Officer Hall was carrying his short barrelled 12 gauge shotgun which had a flashlight mounted on it. The dog was either jumping toward Hall aggressively or Playfully toward the light (if you accept the Smoaks' story that they and General Patton played keep-away with a flashlight)... either way, Hall had no time to aim the shotgun except in the general direction of the dog. If the dog thought it was playing with a flashlight, then General Patton inadvertently aimed his head at the end of the shotgun when it went was fired and he took the shotload in the head. If Hall was defending himself as he stepped back, he shot at a moving target in mid-leap and the head shot was probably more luck than intentional. I do not believe that any shot at that range connecting with the dog would have been survivable (at best the dog would have been maimed and been put down after considerable agony and suffering).
Upon second thought, maybe we need another solution. Since once disgraced in the manner this homicidal maniac with a badge deserves, he could become a serial killer blaming us all for his disabilities.
We didn't blow their heads off....Get it?
So speeding is now reason for a guns drawn felony stop?
And excuses the lack of control of deadly force?
Not that the vile cop-hating scum that spew all over these threads
If you're not with us, you're against us. And there's a LOT more of us, than there are of you.
We haven't started rounding up cops yet. Hardly a real comparison.
I suggest you do a test and see if a wallet can remain on the car even at 50 MPH.
I bet not.
More than likely this was an nosy old bitty, who can't drive herself.
More like the Stasi in unified Germany. Do you seriously compare this thug, who is more akin to Nazis, to the Jewish victims of Nazis? That is one of the sickest malapropisms I have seen.
Yes.
Just saw the tape on a morning news show...
It was a small, yippy little dog that neither looked dangerous, nor behaved aggressively.
That cowardly, room-temperature-IQ pig can count his lucky stars that it wasn't my dog.
I wouldn't let an outrage like this pass without reprisal.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.