Posted on 01/08/2003 10:02:50 PM PST by spetznaz
COOKEVILLE, Tennessee (CNN) -- Police video released Wednesday showed a North Carolina family kneeling and handcuffed, who shrieked as officers killed their dog -- which appeared to be playfully wagging its tail -- with a shotgun during a traffic stop.
The Smoak family was pulled over the evening of January 1 on Interstate 40 in eastern Tennessee by officers who mistakenly suspected them of a carjacking. An investigation showed James Smoak had simply left his wallet on the roof of his car at a gas station, and motorists who saw his money fly off the car as he drove away called police.
The family was driving through eastern Tennessee on their way home from a New Year's trip to Nashville. They told CNN they are in the process of retaining a lawyer and considering legal action against the Cookeville, Tennessee, Police Department and the Tennessee Highway Patrol for what happened to them and their dog.
In the video, released by the THP, officers are heard ordering the family, one by one, to get out of their car with their hands up. James Smoak and his wife, Pamela, and 17-year-old son Brandon are ordered onto their knees and handcuffed.
"What did I do?" James Smoak asks the officers.
"Sir, inside information is that you was involved in some type of robbery in Davidson County," the unidentified officer says.
Smoak and his wife protest incredulously, telling the officers that they are from South Carolina and that their mother and father-in-law are traveling in another car alongside them.
The Smoaks told CNN that as they knelt, handcuffed, they pleaded with officers to close the doors of their car so their two dogs would not escape, but the officers did not heed them.
Pamela Smoak is seen on the tape looking up at an officer, telling him slowly, "That dog is not mean. He won't hurt you."
Her husband says, "I got a dog in the car. I don't want him to jump out."
The tape then shows the Smoak's medium-size brown dog romping on the shoulder of the Interstate, its tail wagging. As the family yells, the dog, named Patton, first heads away from the road, then quickly circles back toward the family.
An officer in a blue uniform aims his shotgun at the dog and fires at its head, killing it immediately.
For several moments, all that is audible are shrieks as the family reacts to the shooting. James Smoak even stands up, but officers pull him back down.
"Y'all shot my dog! Y'all shot my dog!" James Smoak cries. "Oh my God! God Almighty!"
"You shot my dog!" screams his wife, distraught and still handcuffed. "Why'd you kill our dog?"
"Jesus, tell me, why did y'all shoot my dog?" James Smoak says.
The officers bring him to the patrol car, and the family calms down, but still they ask the officers for an explanation. One of them says Patton was "going after" the officer.
"No he wasn't, man," James Smoak says. "Y'all didn't have to kill the dog like that."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Did you catch the other video story on that link? The one where the lady of the house shot the gentleman of the house's SUV? Then the police confiscated all the guns and non utensil knives in the house, 30 guns and several knives. Of course they were probably his guns and knives, not hers. He'll have to pay a pretty penny in lawyer's fees to get them back, most likely. Assuming he can get them back at all, since he was also charged with "Domestic Violance, even though the story doesn't indicate on what basis, or if he was even very close to the "lady" when she assaulted the SUV with a .38 handgun.
Then there was the neighbor, who was "shocked" about all those guns in the neighborhood. Looked like a pretty vanilla collection. I didn't see any "assault weapons", unless you count what appeared to be either an M-1 Carbine or Mini-14/30, several were shotguns. All in all no big deal, but the lady acted as if they had uncovered a terrorist cell making Chemical weapons next door.
Written version of the story is here.
Then it was discovered the law isn't the law. It is not illegal in Seattle to leave your car lights on. The policewoman misread her computer pad. The police chief was simply blathering.
Keyword is dumb ass. Or as we say here in Tennessee... dumass.
Strange this day has been for me. At five o'clock I awoke to the house next door, ablaze. Watched real close up, the firefighters, EMT's and police in action.
I did not see a single dumass on the job of knocking down the fire and getting them folks out on to hospital.
Which makes this dog shooter a specific target of my opprobium. He lacked a lot as to judgement when the deal got hot. Itchy trigger fingers are not needed. He seems to have one.
"The guns. I can't believe they had guns in the house." This next door neighbor, Jan risko, didn't hear the shots, "...that just totally freaks me out."
That's really pathetic.
She would've had a stroke if these guys had been neighbors of hers. :^)
When did I say that? You have a knack for putting words in people's mouths that they don't say. I said that the poli e are necessary as well. Only a moron would think that we could abolish all police and live in anything different than another Somalia.
I'm glad that the Founding Fathers didn't feel this way ...
And then let me guess once America became free the founders abolished all police? I don't think so.
Really? Well, how about we open up any prison of your choosing and see how many criminals you put there versus the police, shall we?
No, there was statistical evidence of millions of deliberate murders. An absurd comparison worthy of Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson perhaps, but not an intelligent person.
I seemed to be reading more these days about cops who are adrenalin junkies looking for a fix. And the cops in that video looked real high to me.
if you have some statistical evidence that crimes committed by police are on the rise, something which is verifiable, bring it. Otherwise your chicken little imitation is an agenda filled bunch of crap.
Half the people in prison are drug busts and I could do that any day in East Houston. As to the rest if you're not standing over a victim with a gun the chances of being caught are REAL low. The police are great for traffic and filing reports, I'll protect myself however.
I like how you assume they will do nothing before they even have a chance to.
Its great to see libertarians, the self-proclaimed guardians of the constitution, all so eager to throw out due process just to satsify their anticop lynch mob mentality.
This was a very unfortunate incident, and it is easy to condemn the cop in hindsight. But there was simply no moral fault on the part of the police officers; they were responding as imperfect human beings might be expected to respond to a quickly-unfolding situation filled with unknowns. The death of this dog was no more the moral fault of the police officer than it would be the fault of, say, a driver who runs over a dog rather than swerving, losing of control, and placing his own physical safety at risk. If the choice is between injury to a human or the death of a dog, the human wins--except in PETA world.
Street experience teaches cops to be proactive--not to wait until they have absorbed the first surprise.
Of course the family did nothing wrong, either. And their dog was simply acting as a dog acts. No moral fault or any fault there. Dogs are protective--not particularly discerning. These characteristics make dogs valuable to armed criminals for the same reason they are valuable to a law-abiding families. That's too bad.
The family will understandably be angry and enraged but the cop has no reason to accept the rage and take it personally. He ought to express his sympathy and as a kind gesture offer to get them a new dog, but solely as a gesture of sorrow and kindness--not as an admission of fault.
This kind of incident produces gallons of anger and resentment but offers no legitimate bucket to place them in.
straw argument.
I'm a libertarian, and I would like to see due process and justice served here.
That would most likely mean that some cops look for a new line of work.
I think they should face criminal prosecution for cruelty to animals and civil prosecution for the emotional distress caused to the family.
I don't see how that would be anarchy.
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