Posted on 01/09/2003 7:29:12 AM PST by 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.
The "officer" didn't close the door precisely because the "perp" asked him to. It's all about their testosterone-fueled control fetish, and they're not about to do anything that would indicate any humanity or empathy whatsoever to their "collared" "perps." That's why the "officer" killed the dog the second he could draw a bead on it - not because he felt "threatened," which is a pathetic excuse. In his mind, he was just killing some scumbag perp's dog. THAT is SOP, and if they'd been able to dig a single marijuana seed out of that car (and trust me, they tried their damnedest), we'd have never heard about any of this. You are NOT innocent-until-proven-guilty in the mind of ANY cop who stops you for ANY reason. This poor dog was doomed the second its owner asked the pigs to show any semblence of humanity.
That settles it. I had thought about it, and now I am. I love my Texas, but I'm returning to my ancestral home.
There are TWO of us out there who aren't yet convinced that all cops are jack-booted thugs in search of vacationing families to terrorize and tail-wagging puppy dogs to shoot (sarcasm intended).
I'm sure if your family were pulled over and then held at gunpoint and your family pet was shot right in front of your children, all because of a overzealous busybody and some over-aggressive cops, you would will be saying the same thing.
"It's okay, son, stop crying, the police officers suffer enough abuse as it is, crying might make the one that laughed about it feel almost a little sad, and we can't have that happening, because they are police officers"
"All" is a big number. I'm fairly convinced that MANY cops are jack-booted thugs, overcompensating for having been bullied in high-school, in search of some "perp," ANY "perp," to shove around and prove how bad-assed they are. I think that as far as "officer" Hall was concerned, all he was doing was killing some filthy "perp's" dog, so who cares? He's stated outright that AFTER HE FOUND OUT THE FAMILY WAS INNOCENT, he was "sorry" - so in other words, had they been guilty, or even charged with anything, a single marijuana seed, whatever, he wouldn't have cared, nor would any of us have ever heard about it. That suggests a prevailing and callous abuse of power, and in an ostensibly free society, that's a problem.
However, I wouldn't use the term "many."
"Some", or "a few" would be more appropriate when applying a label such as "jack-booted thugs."
But since we're applying labels, it appears from the postings I've read on this subject that there are MANY "cop-haters" out there.
I find that rather disturbing, regardless of the reason behind the vitriol. No question some cops overreach, and a very few do even worse.
But I'm also guessing MANY of these cop-hater types have seen the inside of a jail cell on one or more occasions for everything from drug use to weaving down the highway at .19 blood alcohol to slamming their spouse's head against the wall, and they think only the cop is to blame. They, of course, are just average guys who were victimized by one of those jack-booted thugs.
As is often the case, there are two (or more) sides to every story.
Before I get flamed, I know many southern folk who aren't big southern dummies. Hell, I live in Texas. This guy would've been an ass, no matter where he grew up.
He's certainly got that story down pat.
Do we have a whole nation who are literally scared to death of any dog that even resembles a Pit Bull?
This is getting totally whacky.
A nation of effing p*ssies. Beam me up, Scotty.
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