Posted on 05/07/2008 6:09:50 AM PDT by PittsburghAfterDark
A Knoxville man shot and killed a Pittsburgh police dog Tuesday before the canine's handler returned fire, killing the man in what city police Chief Nate Harper called "an unfortunate" but justifiable action. The shooting outraged and angered the family of the 19-year-old man, Justin Jackson. He was pronounced dead by a passing paramedic almost immediately after the shooting that occurred at 6:53 p.m. in front of the UPMC facility on Arlington Avenue on the border of Knoxville and Mt. Oliver.
Harper said the dog's handler ordered the canine -- a 6-year-old German shepherd named Aulf -- to attack after Jackson pulled a gun from under his shirt. Both the officer, an eight-year-veteran Harper did not identify, and Jackson fired several shots, the chief said.
"They shot my son in the head. The officer told me, 'Our dog got shot so we shot him.' They killed my son over a dog," said Donald James Jackson of the West End.
"My 19-year-old son is lying there dead, shot in the head, execution-style. My son's brains are laying on the street. This is crazy. I'm going to do whatever I have to do, file charges against the officers, for my son. It's terrible, the mentality they have," Jackson said as he tried to comfort his wife.
"We are not going to let them get away with this!" Anna Jackson screamed. "They will pay for killing my son. They are going to pay for shooting my son over a dog!"
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
Righteous shoot — all the way. Even the Libertarian cop-haters will have to agree.
Once the punk pulled the gun all bets were off. The cop didn’t have the time or obligation to make any fine distinctions.
First an unarmed officer on a bicycle will make a quick drive-by.
Yeah so what? lol...
So bicycle cop rolls on shots fired call and sees dummy boy standing their with his freaking hand up under his shirt. Waddia think bicycle cop is going to do? He's going to tell dummy to show his hand.
Do you expect bicycle cop to just stand there or draw down on dummy boy?
One of two things are going to happen...Either dummy boy complies, or dummy boy pulls out his weapon.
Sounds like you're living in a fantasy world.
He was an honor student turning his life around. (And he always had a smile on his face.)
All those other actions would send a message to perps that said very clearly... pull a gun, die anyway, and your momma wont be rich because of it... and the taxpayers wont be paying her off in lue of your prison costs.
Where are you gonna find a jury without at least one dog lover on it? They’d never convict the officer, even in LA.
“....an unfortunate, but jusifiable action”.
What’s unfortunate about it? That dog performed more good for humanity in one day than the dead perp would have done in his entire miserable life time. Pious arguments notwithstanding, relative worth falls on the side of the Doberman.
My point was that I doubt a jury would ever convict someone of killing a police dog as the equivalent of killing a police officer and I asked if anyone knew of any court cases that related to it.
There are lots of dog lovers and dog/cop haters. I can't see someone being convicted of killing a police dog in a inner city environment
My exact point. Most inner city residents have only seen vicious dogs, be they guard dogs, police dogs or drug dealer dogs. ANY dog, including the world's most friendliest beagle (our dog) scared the wits out of them. A real shame.
Given that attitude, I doubt any urban jury would convict anybody of killing a police dog, since they had reasonable fear of their life.
Why not? In one instance, the dog is presumably being set upon an innocent victim. In the next, the dog is being set upon a dangerous criminal. The situations are not equivalent.
Unless the cops are now judges, there is no way to tell the status of the person the dog is turned loose on. Presumption that they are dangerous criminals is not one that I am willing to make, why are you so confident in it?
This is why little foo-foo should never be let off his leash, nor should he be allowed to go for someone's legs or ankles.
Been there, done that. When I was but a lad, an idiot turned his dog loose on a group of us in a friend's front yard. He was truly beside himself when Fido was returned to him expired.
With all respect, on my local Pittsburgh news tonight (as you can imagine it is a huge story here) several segments were done on the subject of Police Dog Training. It costs about $6,000 per dog to train just the dog and then additional training with their human Police partner.
Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisburger has, thru his foundation, donated over a one hundred thousand dollars to local PD here in PA and in OH to help small, economically challenged areas have Police k-9s for their PDs. A question was posed, would the dog have mauled or killed Mr. Jackson, the answer given...no he (the dog) would 'stand down' when the command was given.
You seem to be forgetting that this is FR, where rights are those things that only some people have.
I’m sure that if a FReeper had pulled his gun on an attacking dog, shooting it dead, the incident would have been hailed as a great armed-citizen self-defense move. But the knee-jerkers don’t want to even wait to find out if the dead man was given warning, etc., before passing judgement against him.
The dog in question, Aulf, was a six year veteran of the Pittsburgh Police Dept. Six years...he was fully trained and no doubt had been in these situations before.
If he would have listened to the police officer this never would have happened. Also I would think any police officer would shoot a suspect who pulls out a gun in a threatneing manner.
Yeah, shilling for Obama I see. Those of us in Pennsylvania carrying guns are just bitter.
I have many guns, but I don’t walk down the street with them and confront Police Officers. This
Sitting on a wall and having the police approach you and have the dog trying to get at you is "confronting police officers"?
How horrible! I feel so bad for the poor pup.
Again...just an update...
How’s the Minority Report coming?
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