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.'''
Sorry EBUCK old boy. No confusion possible.
Pit Bull
Bulldog
Now. The owner said it was a Bullgog-Boxer mix. I'll give you that. The Boxer mix would have longer legs than a Bulldog. If it was a Pit Bull...that animal, if it was attacking, would have headed straight for the officer at a run and would have been on him in 1 second flat. There wouldn't have been any 3-4 second delay. He wouldn't have had time to draw down on a Pit Bull that wanted his ass. There would have been no circling and tail wagging as is shown in the video.
I've said it on other threads and I'll say it here. The cop panicked and fired. Period. Now he doesn't have the balls to admit it. Either that or he is following the advice of counsel. Either way...being a cop on the street notwithstanding...he's a coward with no honor.
If he admitted that he panicked and screwed up, begging forgiveness from the owners, do you think there would be as much of a stink about this whole issue? I don't.
I hate to day it, but most policemen are very stupid.
So the cops were not negligent when they let the dog loose in the first place?
I can see maybe they might have stopped the vehicle based on the earlier report (which was somewhat ambiguous but may have had an inkling of something strange going on with money flying about) just to clear things up, but given the circumstances, a family (with kids?) traveling with (non-pitbull) pet dogs, then obeying orders and doing what they were told, well, it would seem that even the most intellectually-challenged cop could conclude that there was likely no threat here.
And I don't see any justification for killing the dog. Cops kill a lot of dogs nowadays because they are trained to do so (i.e., JBT training) and they know there will be few, if any, legal repercussions to their getting their jollies by firing off their weapon and killing something. Unless that dog was on top of the officer doing him some serious harm, I don't see how killing it is in any way justified.
"These guys go after their enemies," claims the reporter. "It's politically motivated; it is the state police apparatus in the hands of a politician. Man, that's why I don't spend the night in Cookeville -- I always go somewhere else."
I seem to recall a recent case where a suspect was caught with a dog in the car. They called animal control to take the dog away before they searched the vehicle. Took longer for animal control to come, but at least the dog was alive and the cop, nor anyone else was hurt. From the looks of the video this family was luckey they weren't shot for telling the cops to close the door!
Wow, I'm like fresh out of sympathy for this nazi scumbag.
For that reason, your explanation falls flat. The officers had an option they flew right past in their Rambo-haste.
The family will be awarded big bux for this one. Several officers are going have their careers ruined as a result. Not only the one who shot the dog, but starting with whoever got the 911 call, several will suffer for poor judgement. IMO.
There is a HUGE difference between an American Staffordshire Terrier (so-called Pit Bull) and THIS dog, which was a Boxer/English Bulldog mix. Pit bulls have short, stubby legs and enormous heads and move stiffly. This dog had a normal-sized head, was more lanky, and moved gracefully.
The video showed the dog loping gently, not running in a threatening manner.
Michael
Michael
I agree that he panicked and reacted to his training.
EBUCK
Yeah,I mean surely that no more than 50 pound dog instilled "in fear for my life" in Officer Hall and the other 5 armed, fully grown men at that stop.
Surely if officer Hall hadn't removed that dogs head when he did, the dogs rapidly waggling tail would've rendered all 6 officers lifeless within seconds.
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