Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Man Shot After Shooting Police Dog: Family Outraged
Pittsburgh Tribune Review ^ | May 7, 2008 | Michael Hasch

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 ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events; US: Pennsylvania
KEYWORDS: crime; deaddog; donutwatch; isthisinteresting; justadog; lawenforcement; leo; moreequalthanothers; murder; pennsylvania; peoplenotdogs; pittsburgh; policestate; workingdogs
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 281-300301-320321-340 ... 361-370 next last
To: muawiyah
"They are readily replaced."

Many have the same opinion about you. lol

301 posted on 05/07/2008 7:25:53 PM PDT by verity ("Lord, what fools these mortals be!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 299 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah
There's really nothing special about a working dog. They are readily replaced.

So are humans. So what's your point?

302 posted on 05/07/2008 7:29:27 PM PDT by Ditto (Global Warming: The 21st Century's Snake Oil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 299 | View Replies]

To: verity
Yeah, I recall you from the San Fran killer tiger threads. Weren't you all upset about the possibility someone had "taunted the tiger" (maybe "nah, nah, nah, you're pants are on fire") and therefore deserved death?

The Tribune article has this piece in it: " Police dogs are protected under state law that makes it a felony to even taunt them.

So, maybe you can explain this ~ a dog knows maybe a couple of dozen words. How does he know he's being "taunted"?

Once you figure that out you can tell us how dogs take an oath of office and sign their names.

303 posted on 05/07/2008 7:31:52 PM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 301 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah

I still prefer animals. They are neither righteous nor arrogant.


304 posted on 05/07/2008 7:35:07 PM PDT by verity ("Lord, what fools these mortals be!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 303 | View Replies]

To: verity
I already know you like it when tigers eat the visitors to the zoo, but that's just you isn't it.

Weren't you arguing too that tigers couldn't jump that high?

BTW, the policeman who did the shooting is named Christian Sciulli the only other news on this guy is the time he let his dog bite a protestor in the butt ~ didn't break skin but it tore her pants. He then arrested her for letting the dog touch her.

Her lawyer got that dismissed, but the prosecutor's office followed it up with yet another charge.

I think Sciulli is a tad strange ~ always in trouble, and does not control his dog.

305 posted on 05/07/2008 7:46:44 PM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 304 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah
There's really nothing special about a working dog. They are readily replaced.

Police dogs and their handlers receive thousands of hours of training. The dogs are most often imported around two years old and usually cost between eight and twelve thousand dollars. The training usually starts around six weeks and never stops until they are retired at about 8 to 10 years. Their abilities based on the training they receive is not easily replaced. 

306 posted on 05/07/2008 7:55:12 PM PDT by 1035rep
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 299 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah
How does he know he's being "taunted"?

Instinct. I suggest you try an experiment the next time you run across any decent sized dog. Make some overtly aggressive move --- Pretend you're hurting it's owner.

Hell, I had a 50 pound mutt from the animal rescue league that was as friendly as any dog I have ever seen who would have ripped you apart if you trying to hurt any of 'her people.' The dog did not allow anyone to do anything that looked like aggression to anyone in her family.

She wasn't trained to do that. It's instinct to protect her "pack." That's why dogs are used for police work. The guys with the blue uniforms are their family.

307 posted on 05/07/2008 7:55:52 PM PDT by Ditto (Global Warming: The 21st Century's Snake Oil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 303 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah

I don’t have clue what your talking about, and your response had nothing to do with my response to your comments.


308 posted on 05/07/2008 8:04:51 PM PDT by dragnet2
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 285 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah
The point is the cops needed probable cause to stop the guy and demand anything of him. What was “probable cause”?

No they don't; they need only reasonable suspicion to make a stop. In a high-crime area, any suspicious behaviour constitutes reasonable suspicion to make a stop. If the person does not respond to the stop, that automatically triggers probable cause to make an arrest and use force if warranted. Also, it's unlikely that the dog was sent at the perp if the perp was not doing anything. If the perp wasn't stopping or was reaching for his pocket--that's enough to send the dog on him (though I do agree that I don't like using animals in dangerous situations; nevertheless, it's one of the main points of even having police dogs).

I think the cops' story rings truer just on its face. Police dogs don't just attack people; and cops don't just sic dogs on people for the hell of it. I believe the guy had a gun in plain view, the cops told the dog to disarm, and the creep killed the dog.

The reason why police dogs are considered police officers in most states is pretty obvious. You cannot absolve yourself of resisting arrest by claiming that the police dog was intimidating you. It's not like the dogs are on patrol by themselves--they are accompanied by human officers. If a cop tells you to lie down or put your hands in the air, and you don't the dog is just an extension of the human police officer and must be accorded the same level of deference. If police dogs were not treated as police officers under the law, it would expose the human officers using such dogs to enormous risk.

309 posted on 05/07/2008 8:17:45 PM PDT by Ilya Mourometz
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 98 | View Replies]

To: Ditto

If you have the gun in your hand under your shirt, how do you “raise your empty hands” without pulling it out or dropping a loaded revolver?!?


310 posted on 05/07/2008 9:47:26 PM PDT by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 300 | View Replies]

To: Ditto
LOL. In this case, the perp won't have a day in court, but having been a lifelong resident of Pittsburgh, I can damn well guarantee the guy would have done some very long hard time for shooting a K-9 if he had somehow survived his Darwin Award moment.

You are sure that none of your fellow residents would hold out for not guilty just because it was a police dog? You have more faith in the average juror than I do. I seriously would expect a hung juror in most cases where a K9 is killed. I am also still looking for a conviction under "killing a K( is the same as killing an officer" laws.

311 posted on 05/07/2008 10:00:09 PM PDT by Starwolf (I rode to work today, did you?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 298 | View Replies]

To: All

More details this morning from the Trib.

Parents of deceased say some witnesses say he had no gun...who shot the dog?

Slug recovered from dog matches gun stolen in 2006 burglary.

Deceased had lengthy criminal record for one so young.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_566397.html


312 posted on 05/08/2008 4:12:42 AM PDT by cjshapi (Proudly posting without a tagline since 2001)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 311 | View Replies]

To: arbooz
Hopefully you won't have to ever ponder the worthiness of "TEN GENERATIONS of humans" when one of their offspring picks your family member as a prey.

Thanks for your consideration. But rest easy. We have guns. How ever even if I was forced to shoot someone I would not be so spiteful as to want to go kill all their ancestors back 10 generations.
313 posted on 05/08/2008 4:48:18 AM PDT by TalonDJ
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 196 | View Replies]

To: muawiyah

Stop wasting your time because I do not care if you live or die....much less care about you opinion.


314 posted on 05/08/2008 4:58:15 AM PDT by verity ("Lord, what fools these mortals be!")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 305 | View Replies]

To: verity

We know that. I, on the other hand, do care if you die.


315 posted on 05/08/2008 5:35:59 AM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 314 | View Replies]

To: verity

We know that. I, on the other hand, do care if you die.


316 posted on 05/08/2008 5:35:59 AM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 314 | View Replies]

To: Ilya Mourometz
You did, of course, catch my reference to the EARLIER EVENT in March (just a little over a month ago) when the dog seems to have gotten out of control of his handler (this same cop who did the shooting in this case) and nipped an elderly woman.

Hope you did because AFTER a dog has exhibited such behavior the public sympathy for the animal "adjusts".

That's precisely why the dead guy's family are going to win the Pittsburgh lottery!

317 posted on 05/08/2008 5:40:30 AM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 309 | View Replies]

To: Ilya Mourometz
You did, of course, catch my reference to the EARLIER EVENT in March (just a little over a month ago) when the dog seems to have gotten out of control of his handler (this same cop who did the shooting in this case) and nipped an elderly woman.

Hope you did because AFTER a dog has exhibited such behavior the public sympathy for the animal "adjusts".

That's precisely why the dead guy's family are going to win the Pittsburgh lottery!

318 posted on 05/08/2008 5:40:30 AM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 309 | View Replies]

To: dragnet2
You said we are living in some sort of fantasy world here ~ where we have a low crime rate, cops on bicycles, and so on.

But it's not fantasy. Neither is our high execution rate, and long prison sentences.

Forgot to add, you go to jail in Virginia, you go to jail for the whole term. There's no judicial discretion. There's no parole. There's only jail time.

The result is the sort of shooting event described in this case does not happen.

319 posted on 05/08/2008 5:44:38 AM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 308 | View Replies]

To: Ditto
Alas, if I were to taunt the dog as follows "Your tail is too long; your legs are too short; you're a failure at your profession" I assure you nothing would happen.

As far as a dog "protecting its own", fresh meat will take care of that problem.

320 posted on 05/08/2008 5:46:55 AM PDT by muawiyah
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 307 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 281-300301-320321-340 ... 361-370 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson