As family shrieks, police kill dog, Cooksville TN

Email ^ | 1/09/03 | FlyingA

[FlyingA]

As family shrieks, police kill dog Wednesday, January 8, 2003 Posted: 10:26 PM EST (0326 GMT)

COOKEVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- Police video released Wednesday showed a North Carolina family kneeling and handcuffed, who shrieked as officers killed their dog -- which appeared to be playfully wagging its tail -- with a shotgun during a traffic stop.

The Smoak family was pulled over the evening of January 1 on Interstate 40 in eastern Tennessee by officers who mistakenly suspected them of a carjacking. An investigation showed James Smoak had simply left his wallet on the roof of his car at a gas station, and motorists who saw his money fly off the car as he drove away called police.

The family was driving through eastern Tennessee on their way home from a New Year's trip to Nashville. They told CNN they are in the process of retaining a lawyer and considering legal action against the Cookeville, Tennessee, Police Department and the Tennessee Highway Patrol for what happened to them and their dog.

In the video, released by the THP, officers are heard ordering the family, one by one, to get out of their car with their hands up. James Smoak and his wife, Pamela, and 17-year-old son Brandon are ordered onto their knees and handcuffed.

"What did I do?" James Smoak asks the officers.

"Sir, inside information is that you was involved in some type of robbery in Davidson County," the unidentified officer says.

Smoak and his wife protest incredulously, telling the officers that they are from South Carolina and that their mother and father-in-law are traveling in another car alongside them.

The Smoaks told CNN that as they knelt, handcuffed, they pleaded with officers to close the doors of their car so their two dogs would not escape, but the officers did not heed them.

Pamela Smoak is seen on the tape looking up at an officer, telling him slowly, "That dog is not mean. He won't hurt you."

Her husband says, "I got a dog in the car. I don't want him to jump out."

The tape then shows the Smoak's medium-size brown dog romping on the shoulder of the Interstate, its tail wagging. As the family yells, the dog, named Patton, first heads away from the road, then quickly circles back toward the family.

An officer in a blue uniform aims his shotgun at the dog and fires at its head, killing it immediately. For several moments, all that is audible are shrieks as the family reacts to the shooting. James Smoak even stands up, but officers pull him back down.

"Y'all shot my dog! Y'all shot my dog!" James Smoak cries. "Oh my God! God Almighty!" "You shot my dog!" screams his wife, distraught and still handcuffed. "Why'd you kill our dog?" "Jesus, tell me, why did y'all shoot my dog?" James Smoak says.

The officers bring him to the patrol car, and the family calms down, but still they ask the officers for an explanation. One of them says Patton was "going after" the officer.

"No he wasn't, man," James Smoak says. "Y'all didn't have to kill the dog like that."

Brandon told CNN Patton, was playful and gentle -- "like Scooby-Doo" -- and may have simply gone after the beam of the flashlight as he often did at home, when Brandon and the dog would play. The Tennessee Department of Safety, which oversees the Highway Patrol, has said an investigation is under way.

Cookeville Police Chief Robert Terry released a statement on the department's Web site Wednesday night describing the department's regret over the incident.

"I know the officer wishes that circumstances could have been different so he could have prevented shooting the dog," Terry wrote. "It is never gratifying to have to put an animal down, especially a family pet, and the officer assures me that he never displayed any satisfaction in doing so." Terry said he and the vice-mayor of Cookeville met with the family before they left "to convey our deepest sympathies" for the loss of their dog.

"No one wants to experience this kind of thing, and it's very unfortunate that it occurred," he wrote. "If we had the benefit of hindsight, I'm sure some -- if not all of this -- could have been avoided. I believe the Tennessee Highway Patrol feels the same way."

The department is conducting an investigation to determine what, if anything, could have been done differently, he said. Police also plan to be in contact with the Smoak family, Terry said. The Smoaks buried their pet at home. A white cross marks the grave.

[rolling_stone]

..........instead of always siding with Fido and his thuggish owners, put yourself in the shoes of that officer

Uh what thuggish owners?
Did you read the story, watch the video? the officer could have easily butt stroked the dog or fired into the ground to scare it off instead of blowing it's head off. Or how about one of those clowns closing the car doors? Looks to me like they saw the dogs and were told about them but did nothing.

[Flyer]

he did the right thing in killing that monster

You are reaching a conclusion with insuffient facts. It almost seems that you enjoy the thought of blowing a dog's brains out.

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[DBtoo]

One of those Islamic A-RABS are you? Filthy animals that must be killed, according to your prophet Mohammad. In Saudi Arabia, when your buddies find one they stone them to death for sport. Your cup of tea? Perhaps you should consider relocating....

[matthew_the_brain]

Thanks for the concern, but not at all. In fact I own an excellent pointing dog,an english pointer, who is a great companion and friend of mine. He also would not jump out of my car, and be silly enough to run toward anyone without my saying so........as a dog should do.

Anthropomorphism is quite a psychosis with your kind...was it too many Disney movies as child?

[DBtoo]

Maybe 99% of the time he would not jump out of your car. However, what if you found yourself in the same situation as this family, and your dog jumped out in the confusion and the cop shot it to death right in front of you? Would you just say, oh well, it was just a dog....the cop did the right thing... even if it was threatening no one? This family was innocent, driving along minding their own business!

BTW, the world is not a black and white place. Concerning animals, it is not a matter of either being a PETA fanatic or despising animals.

[Thisiswhoweare]

I am glad you brought this up. Throughout reading the posts on this thread, I wondered if anyone would mention the cops acted out of procedure from the start. They could have done the usual traffic stop with the usual precautions and determined the worst the man was doing was driving without his license. Not having it because it fell off at the station.

If they ran the plates, the car was not reported stolen and no one had come forward with information of being robbed. The man had already lost his money, credit cards and ID etc. There was no threat (other than presumed by the officers) to justify what they put these people through. But, to cause the situation of loosing their dog and then shooting it dead, is totally out of bounds!

Where were they inacting the disclaimer spoken on the tv show Cops," All suspects are presumed innocent until convicted in a court of law?"

Just senseless.

[Rifleman]

Anyone who shoots my dog is going to find that the lawsuit is the least of his problems. Dogs are on our team. They are not people, but they are not just property either.

[Hodar]

This law appears to be written expressedly to protect police dogs, not the person's family pet.

Put me on the jury as to whether the officers acted as reasonable people.

I would love to pass judgement on this officer. He would lose his house, car and retirement, if I had my way. From the video, he is nothing more than a sadist on a power trip. Unfortuantely, it's the county and the taxpayer who will end up protecting this degenerate, and paying the fines (which I hope are monumental).

[matthew_the_brain]

Dogs are property inasmuch as my coffee table is property. Dogs have a certain utility, be that a pet, pointer, guard dog, whatever. Dogs have certain rights, ie the right not to be adused, which my coffee table does not possess. However, my coffee table cannot maul anyone, a dog can, and does.
I am not talking about abusing dogs, nor I am advocating killing them willy nilly.......if a dog runs toward you in a hostile situation, and you feel threatened, you have a right to stop it.......cry all you want, no judge in the world will punish you for protecting yourself and your family.

again, anthropomorphism is a problem in society, stop ascribing human traits, and Rights to flea bags.....

[IM4TRUTH]

City of Cookeville (931)526-9591
City of Cookeville- City Manager (931)520-5240
City of Cookeville- Mayor/City Council (931)520-5241

Don't just sit there and complain. CALL THESE PEOPLE and let them know what you think.

[Slainte]

You have no idea what the tone of the original call to the cops was, nor do you know anything about the perps.......that dog came out of the car darting, probably barking.........i would have shot it dead, the cop did his job.

Actually, we do have a good deal of the information you assume we don't have.

The WKRN video has a portion of the audio of the 911 call as well. The caller talks about a car passing her "...probably going about 110 mph" and then she says "not too far in front of me there was money flying all over the interstate." Unless there's a crucial element that's been cut from the footage, she does not report seeing a car-jacking, or a hostage situation. She reports seeing a speeder (and I question if "about 110mph" is nothing more than hyperbole...) and money flying on the interstate.

http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=1076500&nav=1ugFDGSN

I'd certainly like to see unedited (there's a short gap in the news story footage) footage from the point where the car was pulled over to the point after the dog was shot, to see if anything crucial was edited out but based on what we're seeing here:

The video starts at 17:19:18. The entire family looks like it is out of the car at this point, and they appear to be complying with police instructions to keep thier hands up and kneel.

There's a gap in the footage. When it resumes, there are mutliple individuals kneeling beside the car. This makes it difficult to tell how long the door was left open. Four police officers are visable in the footage.

At 17:20:33 you can hear the man say that there's a dog in the car that he doesn't want to get out.

At 17:20:36 you can see the dog is out of the car, it runs in a semi-circle and end up coming towards the police officer.

Just before 17:20:40 the officer shoots the dog. It's hard to tell exactly because they zoom in and the time stamp isn't visable.

I normally give the police the benefit of the doubt, but the video is pretty damning. This situation looks like it would have been avoidable. If they had contained the animal by simply closing the door, the situation would have not have occured.

[Hatteras]

Try this clip: http://www.tennessean.com/video/dogshooting0103/doglg.rm

[matthew_the_brain]

Big freakin deal!!! Have you people lost your marbles? It was obviously an accident, and a dog, not an innocent adult, not a toddler, a dog was accidently killed due to some very confusing circumstances.

Over 4000 unborn children are slaughtered each day, and you ninnies are getting worked up over a dog who should have stayed in the car and was shot........

This is the 4th dimension.......a different astral plane

[Flyer]

Big freakin deal!!! Have you people lost your marbles?

Your obsession with the matter may indicate it is you that has an apple that is going bad.

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[Flyer]

Over 4000 unborn children are slaughtered each day, and you ninnies are getting worked up over a dog who should have stayed in the car and was shot........

Paging Tabitha Soren!

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[Rifleman]

No anthropomorphising here. Dogs are not people. They are symbiotes to people. As such, killing a man's dog is not like breaking his coffee table. If the law does not recognise this, I don't give a shxt. The Law <-> Reality mapping is fair at best and is often surealisticly bad.

And returning to specifics, if that cop felt threatened by that dog, then he was far too timid a fellow to allow out with a gun and the power of the state behind him. I want cops like the skinny 50 year old veteran that I watched disarm and arrest a hulk with a bowie knife, using only his nightstick and a kick to the balls. I want cops who bring their manhood and self respect to the job with them and don't put it on with the leather, uniform and gun.

[Nov3]

This Mathew_The_Fillintheblank guy is either a bootlicking cop lover or a cop who likes to shoot dogs. His mindless defence of the undefendable is proof that he has real problems. The whole problem from the beginning was fouled up by the cops, It is obvious to everyone that has 2 eyes. Let him go lick some boots.

[Flyer]

It is obvious to everyone that has 2 eyes

Well, not obvious to everyone. I do seem to sense that Fillintheblank guy would have enjoyed being the shooter..

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[matthew_the_brain]

Anthropomorphites are impossible to reason with, since they view Fido in a very perverted, warped manner. I suppose your kind are the same group of people that believe that Mr Ed could actually talk, or that Babe the pig was truly a sheepherding bovine.


I blame the government controlled schools.

[Thisiswhoweare]

Bingo! A coffee table is an inantimate object, a dog is a living feeling being. What a bs thing to relate the two! Even with the adage apples and oranges, they are related, they are both fruit!

Maybe, this fillintheblank guy is practicing to testify at the trial...