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."

[DWSUWF]

"...Their safety is paramount, after all..."

LOL!

Why stop with beloved family pets?

Institute a 'scoring system' that will allow these obtuse, burr-headed boneheads to quantify their sophomoric flights of cowardly paranoia on a checklist.

Anyone scoring over 50 un-good-suspicious-non-compliant points is selected for termination.

Mount a couple of miniguns on the roof of their cruiser and you have the means to dispense good-quick-road-justice to the evil not-good-citizens.

Don't just kiss the jackboot, Herr Mulder!... LICK it!

[Wordsmith]

Thanks, I appreciate the reply. Don't mean to imply that Horiuchi is blameless. Did some more research yesterday, found out for the first time that the FBI had tried to recruit Weaver as a snitch. Obviously, the whole thing stinks. Bureaucratic wagon circling at its most vile.

[Romulus]

I suggest you do a test and see if a wallet can remain on the car even at 50 MPH.

Been there, done that.

While driving a back road in France 24 years ago, I stopped for gas. After an unexpected big debate with the bumptious station owner (when he refused payment in French Franc traveler's checks) I was so vexed and rattled that I forgot my wallet on the car roof. Shortly after paying off the man in the currency he demanded, having driven off in a hurry to resume my trip, I heard a strange rustling sound. I glanced in the rearview mirror and saw something floating through the air. Funny, it looked almost like money. Wait a minute...it was money! It was my money! I slammed on the brakes and ran back to collect my cash, scattered all over the road.

How fast had I been driving? Surely no more than 50 mph.

It was a cramped little Renault 5, fully laden with 3 adults and luggage, so its acceleration and top speed were limited to begin with.

I was on a secondary road (one-lane, undivided) that wouldn't have supported seriously fast driving in any case.

The money started flying no more than 30 seconds after I'd pulled out of the gas station. Not enough time for this underpowered, overloaded car to have achieved serious speed.

The fact that I was close enough to the scattered cash to run back on foot and retrieve it suggests that I couldn't have been driving so fast.

Finally, I rely on my own memory: I can just recall that I wasn't driving fast. And the wallet itself was still on the car roof.

There's no way on earth these people could've been driving faster than 60-70 mph and hafe money flying from a wallet resting on the roof.

[SerpentDove]

A good example - look where Bob Ricks from Waco fame ended up:


http://www.youroklahoma.com/homelandsecurity/

OUTRAGEOUS! A murderer is put in charge of defending our lives! Absolutely unspeakable.

When criminals are openly rewarded and elevated in authority, the nation is very sick and corrupt. How much longer can this go on before we collapse as a nation?

[SerpentDove]

>>The goal here should be to use this matter as a springboard to tone down the hardass level of
current law enforcement - because if we simply go after the cop, the system can ditch him as a scapegoat and escape scrutiny.<<

A well-reasoned post (not that your others haven't been).

Thanks.

[kaylar]

Go here to another story about this incident. At the very bottom of the page, you will see a link to a discussion about the shooting. Giving that the site is a local TN news source, this should be mostly 'locals' talking, who know what cops in the area are like-maybe even this particular cop.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I fear that this officer is an exemplar of the attitude amongst the younger, more recently trained police.

I tend to agree. But I'd rather not think about that. Down that road lies madness...

[Diddle E. Squat]

This is exactly why no one takes you nor the spew of you vile cop-haters seriously. In my original post(which you intentionally quote only a portion of) I clearly stated that in no way do I consider the speeding to be justification for how the stop was performed, nor for the cops actions, and indicate that I am uncomfortable with many aspects of the stop, not just the dog shooting. Yet because I dare note that their are contributing factors beyond the cops actions that led to this tragic incident, all of a sudden I am the enemy. Your purposeful misrepresention of my argument and selective ommission is clear dishonesty on your part in an attempt to portray the cops in the worst light. It is no different than a cop planting evidence on someone.

So you are practicing what you so vehemently condemn. That is one reason why I and most others instinctively believe the witness over you armchair detectives. The fact that her story continues to check out while you have been caught in dishonesty only reconfirms our instincts.

You are a total disgrace to your Freepname. If you had any honor or integrity you would find a new one. If Ayn Rand were alive today, I wouldn't be surprised if she herself requested such(a rather unusual action, considering the libertine side of her).

[Diddle E. Squat]

their=there

[tuna_battle]

NEVER, EVER forget that while the cop took 3 seconds to shoot the dog, the dog had 21 seconds to avoid being shot (dog years vs. human years?). <\sarcasm>

[Diddle E. Squat]

Do you know all the facts in this case? Might the wallet have been caught/wedged/held by momentum for a time against a luggage rack, piece of luggage, or something else on the roof? Perhaps it fell in the process of accelerating to the higher speed, and then the second car passed at that higher speed.

Speculation on my part, just like on those trying to portray the witness as a dishonest framer. However the rest of her statements have checked out, and nothing has really been put forth on why she would intentionally lie and setup this family. Again, if the two cars were not speeding, how would she know that there were another car traveling with the one that lost the wallet?

[Diddle E. Squat]

were=was

[rolling_stone]

"Speculation on my part, just like on those trying to portray the witness as a dishonest framer. However the rest of her statements have checked out, and nothing has really been put forth on why she would intentionally lie and setup this family. Again, if the two cars were not speeding, how would she know that there were another car traveling with the one that lost the wallet?"

Well you stated that 110 mph was an exageration and accused me of ignoring that. Seems to me if she exagerated the 110 mph whe was less than credible in her reporting. That is one of her statements and it did not checkout, despite your supposition. Ok so you think Grandma and Grandpa were speeding too, why weren't they stopped? Looks like two cars were just as suspicious in this imaginary crime. THP had apparently looking for the vehicles for close to an hour! The THP followed the car for miles before they pulled it over and should or did compute the distance and time the vehicle covered from the report, estimating its speed. Since they didn't ticket it for speeding, I guess they didn't witness it speeding either?

So suspicion was aroused, mere suspicioun does not rise to the level of probable cause. What crime was supposed to have been committed, littering money on the highway? Speeding is an infraction not a felony.

Appears to me both the THP and Cokeville are used to making seizures and might have thought they had a drug/vehicle seizure to boost their depts income. (See the Cokeville PD Auction site) Since 80% of property seizures don't result in charges being filed, probable cause seems to have gotten thrown in the trash.

Maybe this dogslaughter is a just a peripheral victim of the WOD's.

IMO common sense was lacking by all LEO's in this stop from not getting the facts straight before the stop to not clearing the car and closing the doors to shooting a playful medium size dog instead of using some other means to assess and stop its "threat".

[Diddle E. Squat]

Seems to me if she exagerated the 110 mph whe was less than credible in her reporting.

Already addressed in post 414.

But your speculation on the seizure potential and WOD as factors could be correct(and I am a supporter of the WOD).

[zingzang]

The big deal is the dog wasn't attacking

I'd say that's inconclusive at best from the video. If you had the gun, and the dog (a pit bull/boxer mix) was running at you barking, what would you do? Negotiating with a dog usually doesn't work very well, especially after it's latched onto your leg.

I don't think it's okay for cops or anyone else to shoot an innocent dog. I do think that this whole thing was handled wrong from start to finish, to put it mildly. The worst thing is the treatment of the family. Until we have cops that are paid a decent wage out there, we will continue to have incidents like this.

[eno_]

Ever hear of all the overtime scams up here in Taxachusetts? Underpaid cops my ass.

[samuel_adams_us]

If they take away our guns, who will protect us and our families from the idiots who wear the badge?

[keri]

I'd say that's inconclusive at best from the video.

No, it isn't inconclusive, in the least. It's very clear the dog wasn't attacking. What isn't clear from the clip is what kind of dog this was. It's a moot question, anyway. The truth is this yahoo had three seconds to panic. He could've been shooting at a pug, for all he cared or could even tell.

I don't think it's okay for cops or anyone else to shoot an innocent dog.

That's not what you implied, but we are not in disagreement, here. "If a dog happens to be a pitbull it's guilty regardless", is what I took from your post. If you've changed your mind, good. If not, I won't respond to you anymore.

The worst thing is the treatment of the family.

Yes, it was horrible, especially for the kids. You know what? The worst thing that happened to this family was seeing their dog's head blown clean off. Don't watch the video; listen to the pain and anguish of these people when they realize their dog had been killed. You'll see what I mean.

Until we have cops that are paid a decent wage out there, we will continue to have incidents like this.

I don't think money is a factor, here. There's quite a few fine cops where I live, and some very bad ones. The bad ones aren't paid any less than the good ones. Until we value common sense and decency over procedure and butt-covering, we will continue to have more incidents not only like this, but where humans beings continue to be killed as well.

Your question "what would you do," in a situation as you described it? Well, I'm not a cop...but, about a month ago I stopped to pick up two mixed breed dogs running in the middle of a street. They were very close to getting hit by a car. They came running up to me, wagging their tails and smiling. I didn't shoot them, but then I didn't have a gun nor do I have any training in "proper procedure."

[optimistically_conservative]

Is Frank Weaver related to Randy Weaver?

Doh! Honestly I don't know, Frank was a boss of mine from days past, must have been typing too fast.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..as I stated, grief first and then compassion, yes. But I'm an old Christian family doctor who has treated police officer injuries and dog bite injuries, so I concede that I am not a Disneyland kind of person....

Neither am I, but it's a long way from the dispassionate and clinical treatment of an injury in your surgery, to watching a much loved pet shot to death before your very eyes. I guess we're all a little surprised that you would put the shooter first, in that circumstance.