As family shrieks, police kill dog (probably due to a lack of fresh donuts)

CNN ^

[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."

[Smittie]

Let me get this straight, this vicious dog hurls itself through the window and lunges towards the officer's jungular ...no wait... my eyes see a friendly tail wagging pooch who runs by one armed goon and gets murdered by another quick fingered moron.

Just firing a shotgun at that close of range would shake up most people close by much less seeing you pet get blown away.

What if that Goon would have missed hte dog and hit someone?

[TaZ]

"When my mother was robbed, cops (not libertarians) found the guys that did it. When my neigthbor's apartment was burglarized the cops (not libertarians) found the guy who did it."

So I see, so the armed citizen is unable to protect himself against criminals then...very interesting.

I'm glad that the Founding Fathers didn't feel this way when the armed citizen, aka Minutemen, stopped the King's LEOs at Concord-Lexington when they came to confiscate ball & powder.

You sir are a coward...IMHO ; )

[1Old Pro]

A sickening, sad story about another incompetent cop(s). The problem is the officer deserves punishment, not the insurnce carrier or the county taxpayers if they are self-insured.

The cop should have to personally pay pay the family $500 to buy a new dog and $10,000 for their grief so they can take a 2 week vacation in Hawaii and mourn their loss.

[HoustonCurmudgeon]

When my mother was robbed, cops (not libertarians) found the guys that did it. When my neigthbor's apartment was burglarized the cops (not libertarians) found the guy who did it.

When my well known father was killed in his home the cops didn't find the guys that did it. (10 years ago)

When my sisters car was stolen in High School the cops didn't find the guy.

When my sisters car was stolen at gun point from a well lighted mall, we found the guy, not the cops.

When my parents were mugged in NY City the cops didn't find the guy.

When my sister-in-law was mugged and robbed they didn't find the guy.

When another sister-in-law was robbed they didn't find the guy.

When my wife's grandmother was robbed, we found the guy.

When my mother-in-law was broken into, we found the guy.

I'd say we have a better record than the cops. BTW I have an ex-brother-in-law who is a cop, a current brother-in-law who is, and a cousin who is one along with her husband.

[Search4Truth]

I think we can agree that the damage coming from these incidents is to the reputations of good cops and the fear it fosters amongst law abiding American.

But what angers me is that nothing will be done about this cop who is obviously unqualified for police work. And that kind of arrogance by the police is dangerous.

The whole video was a show of excessive force on the part of this police department. The dog shooting was just the highlight. The cops looked like they were taking down a gang of Colombian drug lords.

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.

[TaZ]

"But what angers me is that nothing will be done about this cop who is obviously unqualified for police work. And that kind of arrogance by the police is dangerous."

The reason that the bureaucrats will do nothing to this JBT is that IF they admitted that he was wrong, then they may be forced to admit a LOT of daily actions by LEOs may be unlawful and that would inhibit their ability to collect revenue...

[TLBSHOW]

BUMP

Everyone should take notice of what the police are becoming like here in America and its time to stop them.

[swarthyguy]

Perhaps someone should correlate enforced smoking cessation programs for LEO's with the incidents of going postal ( a misnomer, it seems now, should be renamed for going LEO)

[ambrose]

The other thing is that these Pigs are COWARDS. Remember Columbine? They let a couple of dorky teens shoot up a school and did NOTHING. The coward Pigs wouldn't put their donut-eating asses on the line to save school kids. Ahhh, but when it is a tail wagging pooch, then they're "brave"...

Makes me sick...

[Theophilus]

I think that there must be a tendency for cops to become like the people that they have to deal with continually. I think most cops resist most of that tendency effectively - but this guy failed. It's a dirty tough job and it attracts hard edged men.

[spetznaz]

You mean something like that Denzel movie ...'Training Day?' I guess it is so, if you consider all the stuff they have to go through everyday. And i know most cops are good hardworking people who have to go through a workday filled with grime and the dregs of society. However every now and then a group of cops comes along who are in essence what they are supposed to be fighting against.

Think for example that LA cop unit (that was supposed to tackle gang members and drug dealers) that used to shoot them and plant guns, and do all sorts of bad stuff. They even made Training Day look tame!

[Moleman]

Poor dog, and it's owners. It hurts very much to lose a pet, in many cases it's your very best friend.

[Eowyn-of-Rohan]

Does loss of companionship count? I swear...if it were my dog, God help them

[Madame Dufarge]

enforced smoking cessation programs for LEO's

Well, this sure could have turned into a SMOAK-cessation program if the poor family had gone as ballistic as I would have under the circumstances.

Too much of this going on, too much.

[RedwM]

and the "useful idiot" of the month award goes to.

[Nuke'm Glowing]

"When is the "police are always right" crowd going to show up?"

All over the other 7 threads about this. I've been fighting them since Tuesday. Good luck. I never realized how many Gestapo/Nazi fans we had here.....

[Nuke'm Glowing]

"I can't see the video. Is the link just overloaded?"

Yes, as is the Cookeville, TN website and police website....
That should tell the Nazis something...

[Nuke'm Glowing]

"I suppose you have something more than anecdotal evidence showing this is true?"

You're right. There was only "anecdotal evidence" from 1936 - 1945 in Germany also. I mean, why believe rumors....

[Nuke'm Glowing]

Great pic in #71...reminds me of the threat the evil terrorist Elian posed to Janet Reno....

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Ok, there must have been a better way for the cops to have handled that situation!

How about a warning shot? Even the lowest form of human life gets a warning shot before being blasted to perdition.

I'm fairly certain that the noise of a 12 guage shotgun discharging would have put the dog into serious cowering mode.

Officer Fife needs to have his guns taken away and then put him behind a desk. The next time it might be a kid with a candy bar that looks suspiciously like a handgun.