Posted on 04/09/2006 11:34:12 AM PDT by managusta
Police marksmen called to save a two-year-old child from the jaws of a bull mastiff had to pump 17 bullets into the dog before it would die.
The animal had already been stabbed four times with a bread knife by its owner in a desperate effort to make it drop his son.
When police marksmen arrived, they initially fired a 50,000-volt Taser gun in a vain attempt to stop the frenzied attack by three-year-old family pet Mitch.
They then emptied the entire clip of a Glock 17, 9mm pistol into the dog before it finally collapsed and died.
"They fired 17 times but Mitch kept getting up and wouldn't die," said owner Michael Andrea, 30.
"Eventually he slumped on the ground and was dead. It was a nightmare."
Miraculously, his son Nicholas had to stay in hospital only overnight. The three officers were from Scotland Yard's CO19 specialist firearms squad, which killed Brazilian electrician Jean Charles de Menezes, 27, by shooting him eight times at Stockwell Tube station in South London last July after mistaking him for one of the bombers who had attacked the capital the previous day.
And the attempts to kill Mitch in Woolwich, South-East London, were a far cry from the "shot of excellence" that CO19 officers are trained to use to dispatch would-be suicide bombers - a single bullet that severs the spinal cord and prevents a bomber detonating his explosives.
But a Scotland Yard spokeswoman said last night: "The officers used 17 shots because the dog stayed alive that long. They fire and then assess if the threat is still there - and this animal was still alive and they had to fire again.
"It's not something that is going to stay still the minute it is shot. No one can say what impact a bullet will have on a human or an animal - and the animal was still a threat. The officers did what they were trained to do. Unfortunately, that's what it took to kill the dog. The officers had no option." The horror began when Mitch turned on little Nicholas downstairs at the family home as his four-month-old sister Maria was sleeping upstairs.
His mother Sherry, 23, said: "The dog had him by the back of his head and wouldn't let go. He was throwing Nicholas around like a rag doll. There was blood everywhere. If Nicholas had not covered his face with his hands, he could have been scarred for life." Husband Michael said: "I kicked Mitch to get him off Nicholas. Then I ran into the kitchen, grabbed a bread knife and stabbed Mitch four times with it. The dog ran round the front and Sherry hit him with a broom."
Nicholas escaped briefly by climbing on to a car in a nearby car park. But the dog pulled him back and attacked him again, blacking his eye and biting him on his legs and body.
"By this time, a neighbour had called the police and there were 13 police cars outside," said Mr Andrea.
"The police dog-handler couldn't snare Mitch. They called a vet to give him a lethal injection but the vet didn't want to know.
"That's when the police armed response vehicle turned up. They got me to sign a statement saying I approved of them shooting Mitch."
His wife added: "This was every parent's nightmare. The dog just went crazy. We are very lucky that Nicholas is still alive." The family still have Mitch's brother Vinnie, an almost identical bull mastiff they intend to keep for the time being.
"Mitch had been a good dog but something just made him go mad," said Mr Andrea. "We were careful before but we will be even more careful now to protect the children."
You just decribed, word-for-word, my main firearm
Golly, You 'n me oughta move to jolly 'ole England and be Animal COntrol Officers [or whatever they're called over there]
#21 - I agree with you!
They are sweet dogs when raised with love. There was NO NEED for THIS to happen. Those parents shouldn't be allowed to have pets.
I have two akita lab mixes - brothers. When they were pups, they had some dominance issues they had to work out. The dog fights were frightening.
We emptied pepper spray into their faces and broke chairs over their heads. They didn't even notice.
We stopped one fight by breaking a door on them.
They understood that humans are dominant, so we have never had that problem. But each dog thought he should be over the other. We ended up deciding on the top dog ourselves, and enforced it. The fights stopped as soon as we did.
They haven't fought in years now - just big sweet puppydogs.
He had the child by the head so that probably ruled out a head shot. I would imagine they were shooting him in places that wouldn't hit the baby.
Those parents shouldn't be allowed to have children.
Fixed it for you.
Of course the government should'nt decide for them. But if they can't raise a dog they're not going to be able to raise a child.
Hopefully the child will go nuts on THEM not somebody else.
Kinda reminds me of the old joke...
Q. What's the difference between the Dept. of Children and Families and a Pit Bull?
A. You can get your child back from the Pit Bull.
You should see the document they make suicide bombers sign...
I will garondamntee you that I could have turned that dog off, in less than a second, with a .22 short!
There is no way in hell that you can take a city boy, or a city girl, who has never fired a shot, before they became a cop, and make them understand killing, when it has to be done right, the first time, right away.
I have never liked killing, but, I've had to do a lot of it, and other things that I never liked, as well. You just have to do the unpleasant, but neccessary, stuff, with the same dedication you apply to the things you enjoy.
"Sign a statement"? Hey, after I clean my gun!
Dogs, you have to watch them, check this little story out.
http://burttstorys.blogspot.com/
Re your post #6, it does get tiresome, doesn't it? It almost makes you want to draw up a definition of the two and send it to every newspaper in America. Somehow I don't think even that would work, though. Determined ignorance trumps all.
Watch your dog, check this little story out.
http://burttstorys.blogspot.com/
Whatever officer was doing the shooting should be fired. This should have taken one bullet....two max.
Frankly, I have trouble believing this story.
I'm not a big fan of the 9 mm myself but you are right, with proper shot placement it's a pretty deadly round. Good enough for Mitch Rapp.
>>>>"You should see the document they make suicide bombers sign..."<<<<
That is just so wrong, yet sooo funny
TT
Great keyword!
Moral restraint?
There is such a thing as exotic ammo [completely against Geneva conventions, but law enforcement is not covered by these]. These are expensive, and take training, but some bullets can deliver mechanical, explosive, thermal and chemical osmotic shocks from the same bullet. The stopping power of such a projectile is obviously enhanced. The wound for a while would spit caustic flames, and one could light a cigarette from it.
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