Posted on 01/10/2003 11:54:17 AM PST by EBUCK
Man Wants Punishment for Dog Shooting By JOHN GEROME Associated Press Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP)--A traffic stop following erroneous reports of a robbery ended in heartbreak when the family dog bounded out of the car, his tail wagging, and was shot to death by police.
Now, the dog's owner wants the police officers punished, and the officer who pulled the trigger says he's been getting death threats.
``I don't ever want to see this happen to anybody else. That's why we can't let this go away,'' said James Smoak, who owned the 1 1/2-year-old pit bull-boxer mix named Patton.
Cookeville Police Officer Eric Hall, who shot the dog, said Thursday that people are misjudging him.
``It's been very difficult, but a lot of people who've made comments don't know me,'' Hall said on WTVF-TV in Nashville. ``It's kind of taken a life of its own where people are judging without knowing all the facts.''
Smoak, a seafood salesman from Saluda, N.C., said he has contacted attorneys about the New Year's Day shooting and plans legal action.
He describes the family's ordeal as ``a nightmare we can't wake up from,'' and says he will never forget having to load the dead dog into the car for the ride home.
The incident began when Tennessee state troopers and Cookeville police stopped the Smoaks' green station wagon as they were returning from a vacation in Nashville.
Another motorist had reported seeing money flying from the vehicle as it sped down Interstate 40, and authorities feared there had been a robbery.
They later discovered that the money--about $445--was fluttering from Smoak's wallet, which he had mistakenly left on the car roof after pumping gas.
The patrol car videotape of the stop, released Wednesday by the Tennessee Highway Patrol, shows troopers ordering James and Pamela Smoak and their teenage son, Brandon, out of the car, and the three emerging with their hands up, getting on their knees and being handcuffed.
Then Patton bounds out, his tail wagging, and races toward Hall.
The video shows Hall stepping back, then firing his shotgun. Hall said he thought the dog was a pit bull and that he was about to attack him.
``I noticed that it trained in right on me; the dog's coming right at me,'' he said. ``I yelled at the dog as I was backing up. I screamed at it; it kept advancing and barking in an aggressive manner. It's unfortunate what happened after that.''
Hall, who said he has received death threats, was assigned to administrative duties pending an independent review. An internal police investigation found he didn't use excessive force.
The Tennessee Highway Patrol also concluded its troopers had probable cause to conduct the stop, though officials were still trying to determine how the Smoaks were suspected in a robbery that never happened.
Officers recovered most of the lost money, Smoak said, and officials later apologized, but he said the apologies rang hollow.
``At the scene they told us they made a mistake and that we were free to go,'' Smoak said. ``No one was moved to say they were sorry.''
``The dog was wagging his tail,'' he said. ``It was completely trained.''
Hall said he felt terrible when he learned that the Smoaks were innocent but maintains he reacted appropriately.
``With the knowledge I had at that time, I was so limited that I felt I did what I had to do,'' Hall said.
``If you could have felt what I felt after the whole incident was over,'' he said, ``I thought, 'Oh, my goodness, how unfortunate for that family.'''
They are used to sweeping incidents like this under a rock in Tennessee. Unfortunately for them, the internet and 24/7 cable news services are tailor-made for stories like this. Your "good 'ol boy" network is coming down.
From The Truth about the American Pit Bull Terrier by Richard F. Stratton.....
"The American Staffordshire Terrier is one of many bulldog breeds, not too distantly related to the American Pit Bull Terrier.
Breeders today do not cross the breeds, and hence they grow ever more distant as cousins."
It bugs me when people call my Amstaff a Pit Bull. Not that I have anything against Pits
The good news is that should keep the senate busy for a while. Maybe that dog is worth a lot more than I suggested.
I agree with you.
It varies within the breed but overall labs have very even temperments. My lab only gets aggresive around strange adults and other dogs, but is completely harmless around small animals such as cats, birds, squirrels, etc.
"I'd take his comment over your two annodotal examples anytime. Do you have any other qualifications to say the guy was wrong other than being a dog owner?"
Fair question.
I'm no professional trainer, but having been raised in the country around livestock and farms, I've seen different kinds of dogs in different types of aggressive behavoir ranging from killing chickens to arranged dog fights(shamefully in my youth). Never have I seen a raised tail on a dog in the process of getting violent.
I've been a lab owner for 12 years and have raised 2 females (mother, daughter) Both were house dogs and very well behaved. Both would lower their tails when angry.
That being said, it is only my personal observations. That's why I pinged those other freepers in my original post to come give their opinions. I'll also do a google search on dog behavoir and return shortly with the results.
ENGLISH BULLDOG
Mabye we should consider putting LEOs under the UCMJ.
The tape clearly shows a friendly, tail-wagging little dog obviously curious about the surreal scene he found himself in.
The cowardly piece-of-shit who shot him is stumbling backwards like a drunk, waving the shotgun carelessly.
What a damn shame it is this punk couldn't have stumbled and blown his own worthless f*cking head off before he shot that harmless little dog.
Except that this might well have precipitated a massacre of the family kneeling like POW's on the ground.
Just for the record, it was a pit bull mix. A small pit bull can savage and kill a much larger dog--or human being.
Enablers of violent dogs like to quip, "It isn't the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog" . . . unless a police officer comes out on top. Then they like to reform the mutt into a harmless, milk-toothed, persecuted fuzzball.
Not only should the SOB's go to jail when warranted by the laws they're supposed to be enforcing, they should do their time in the general population.
Why the Hell should I be out of pocket tax-wise to keep a damned criminal-cop in a safe, cushy isolation unit?
Let the bastards learn to sleep with one eye open.
We've already had one "constitutionalist" FReeper do that (gun down a cop for intruding on his "right" to travel the roads without obeying the laws). Are you going to take up the crusade now, Gomer?
He'd be a fool to be reassured by such an analysis.
There are plenty of people, with axes to grind, who might dish up a little lethal grief to this bastard some night yet to come. PETA, for example, contains no small number of partisans capable of such mischief...
The safest course for him is to run and try to hide like the queer-bait coward that he is.
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.