Cop took just 3 seconds to shoot dog

WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Thursday, January 9, 2003

[JohnHuang2]

The Tennessee policeman who shot and killed a family's dog during a terrorizing traffic stop took just three seconds to slay the animal after it jumped out its owners' car, reports the Cookeville Herald-Citizen.

Law-enforcement authorities released a videotape of the incident yesterday, which shows the three-second time frame on the tape's counter.

The Cookeville police officer who shot the dog, Eric Hall, has since been reassigned to administrative duties while the incident is probed.

As WorldNetDaily reported, the Smoak family was returning to their home in North Carolina on New Year's Day when three police cars swarmed their vehicle on Interstate 40 in what appeared to be a traffic stop.

The Smoaks appear on CNN

A Tennessee Highway Patrol officer broadcast orders over a bullhorn for driver James Smoak to toss the keys out of the car window, get out with his hands up and walk backwards to the rear of the car. Smoak obeyed and was subsequently ordered onto his knees and handcuffed at gunpoint. Officers similarly handcuffed his wife, Pamela, and their 17-year-old son with their guns drawn.

As the troopers were putting the family members inside the patrol car, one of the Smoak family dogs, a boxer-bulldog mix named Patton, came out of the car and headed toward one of the Cookeville officers who were assisting the THP troopers.

"That officer had a flashlight on his shotgun, and the dog was going toward that light, and the officer shot him, just blew his head off," Pamela Smoak told the Herald-Citizen. "We had begged them to shut the car doors so our dogs wouldn't get out, [but] they didn't do that."

The Smoaks had been pulled over by mistake after someone reported seeing the car getting on the highway with cash flying out from behind the vehicle. James Smoak, it turns out, had mistakenly left his wallet on the roof of the car when he stopped to get gas. Someone within the THP reportedly thought a robbery had occurred, though it turns out none had.

Hall claimed he was acting in self-defense.

"I yelled at the dog to get back, but it attempted to circle me to attack, so I felt that I had no option but to protect myself," the officer wrote in a police report.

Police Chief Bob Terry told the Herald-Citizen, "We are aware there is a lot of criticism out there over this incident, and we want to take [Hall] off the road and let him perform other duties while we get this all resolved." Terry stressed that Hall was not being punished for killing the dog.

The Herald-Citizen reports that "to an average viewer, the scene recorded on the video may not demonstrate the aggressiveness or the threat the officer said he experienced as the dog came toward him."

Terry said he will have two unrelated police agencies perform independent reviews of the incident.

"We once again extend our deepest concerns to the Smoak family for their loss," Terry said. "We know this was a terrible experience for them, and we truly wish that we could undo the events that occurred on the night of Jan. 1."

The Smoaks recently told their story on CNN's "Connie Chung Tonight."

Speaking of Patton, son Brandon Smoak told Chung, "He's the gentlest dog that I've ever been around. He's like Scooby Doo. He wasn't mean at all."

[TaZ]

"Unfortunately, the bad police get the attention and the news, which causes the overwhelming good service that policemen perform, to be overlooked."

Yep, and I betcha that most of the Hitler's SS troops were really just nice guys trying to help people too...lol!

[eno_]

There certainly are a lot of great guys doing police work.

There are lots of good public school teachers and administrators. However, that doesn't mean that this corrupt, wasteful, ineffective, over-unionized (and so doubly corrupt), incompetent institution doesn't need top-to-bottom reform - be it policing or schools.

[razorback-bert]

What happened to that wonderful word coward?

Certainly applies to this tin hero.

[myrabach]

Sadly, I do support you on this. I used to be very supportive of the police, until I knew them. The reports of "good cops" sound like urban legends as far as I'm concerned. I wouldn't give ya 2 cents for any of them. And even if there were those good cops who do a good job, it doesn't excuse events like this. Unfortunately, events like this will just go away with nothing at all being done to correct the situation.

[eno_]

Pretty hilarious that you cannot see the writing on the wall: The premier conservative Internet forum overwhelmingly sees cops as the armed and steroid-crazed version of public school union members. The propaganda veneer has been ripped off. What is on FR today is mainstream conservatism tommorow - for example, do you think Rush or Savage or even OReilly would side with the cop? The jackbootlickers are small in number and waning in influence.

I'm a married with kids white middle aged upper middle class lifelong registered and frequently contributing Republican. If I think cops are out of control, cops have LOST the PR battle.

[yarddog]

You actually raise a good point.

I would bet if you ran into the ordinary Gestapo guy and had a conversation, you might well think he was a nice guy. I recall a member of the French resistance was nearly caught when, while walking in the county he was offered a ride by a Gestapo chief. He had to ride for quite a few miles with the guy.

That old saying about power corrupting is really true.

[unixfox]

To find out more information on the current POLICE STATE in your area.... Click HERE

[TaZ]

"This isn't an easy problem to reform, but a good first step would be to have a lot fewer laws and a lot fewer cops. Another good first step is to vote for referenda (somehow its never in front of the legislature) that strip cop shops and localities of ticket and siezure revenue."

Yep, that would be the common sense thing to do, but were dealing with a politically currupt bureacracy that is growing leaps and bounds with every 10,000 laws that the legislatures churn out every month...

Add on to that, the new Father-Homeland propaganda that is being added to the already out-of-control LEOS (did you see the Kalifornia State of the Police-State text where Davis talks about the Kali Father-Homeland security dept. he's creating?), and we have a recipe for the most almighty police-state since the Gestapo started asking for papers to allow citizens to travel anywhere...

Jack-Booted-Thugs are feeling totally empowered now and think that blowing the head off a dog distracting from the subjugation of their prey, is a logical choice given their position in Amerika...

This guy will ride a desk for a few months, getting high-fives from all of the guys in the force on their way out to remind the local citizens who is the boss, and then just like the degenerates who executed Amadu Diallo because he was black & didn't "assume the position" in 10 seconds or less, will be found not-guilty and be restored to all of his glorious, jack-booted, super-human powers...

[Teacher317]

I would have done the same thing. AFTER I beat the living hell out of the cop for violating my rights and killing my dog.

That was my first thought as well... but notice the two cops who smothered the father the moment they shot the dog.

[TaZ]

"Watch the video. That dog was waggingits tail!!! Dogs don't wag their tails when they are attacking anyone. The policeman, to use the term lightly, clearly turns and aims his shotgun at the dog, and three seconds was all it took from the time the dog appears to the time he was lying dead at the side of the road. Don't feel too badly, Patricia, you will have lots more chances to apologize for the JBs in the near future."

You're saying that it wasn't more expediant for the JBT to just slaughter the pup as a more logical way for him to perform his "duty"?

C'mon, this guy was just trying to "protekt & serve" the bureacracy...he was just doing his job!

Just like the woman BATF officer that stomped the kitten of another family to death, smiling the whole time in ecstasy, while on another bogus police-raid of law-abiding citizens...

Remember, its for Father-homeland security...Sieg Heil!

[dljordan]

They look pretty suspicious to me. Disheveled appearance, squinty eyes, pale complexion. Yep, it pays to be careful with these kinds of desperados.

[Slyfox]

But if it had been my dog, I would have cried and then comforted the cop and told him not to feel guilty.

I think the fact that the police were warned about the dogs and yet still opened the door, and the fact that the people were on their knees outside the car would make me less able to forgive the police. They were not using caution.

[Teacher317]

There is no way in hell that that dog was threatening the officer, as you'll hopefully see when you watch the video.

Two sides to every story.

One the one hand, you have five moron cops who refuse to listen, preferring their own automaton procedures, and leave the doors open, when the dog is plainly visible in the rear window of the vehicle (if it were some "dangerous" breed, and pretending that's not a stupid term), while the "perps" are very obviously complying as peacefully and obediently as they can in every way. If the dog gets loose and gets hit by passing traffic, the cops know they'll be sued. Add in the fact that the cops are relayed false information from a dispatcher who can't figure out that robbers wouldn't be throwing money out the window with the wallet. Bad, dumb, procedure-only cops with incompetent support.

On the other hand, the factors leading up to the moment don't matter when you consider whether an officer is justified in shooting at a single moment. The dog exited the car, ran a single wide circle (prancing, to any dog-lover), and was heading straight towards the cop (probably to sniff his pant leg and to try to lick his face... but the cop can't know this or count on it). He had the weapon trained on the pet the entire time, and was solidly (seemed almost too) professional about it. Once it got within striking (licking) distance, he shot. I can see how a board of reviewing officers, even those who aren't knee-jerk cop-protectors, could see the tenth-of-a-second decision to shoot as a justifiable one.

[Anitius Severinus Boethius]

"I yelled at the dog to get back, but it attempted to circle me to attack, so I felt that I had no option but to protect myself," the officer wrote in a police report.

1. Yelling at a dog you do not know to do anything is almost always pointless. The dog was probably trying to get to it's family (pack).

2. Dogs don't "circle... to attack". They aren't indians from a 50's serial. Dogs charge straight in and low. They grab the closest thing to them on their target.

3. If he wanted to protect himself, and his fellow officers, then the car doors should have been shut to prevent the dogs from exiting in the first place.

This officer needs to be removed from the force and this unit needs to be trained by some K-9 guys in how to handle dogs when making an arrest.

[Redbob]

"Unfortunately, the bad police get the attention and the news, which causes the overwhelming good service that policemen perform, to be overlooked."

More to the point, "unfortunately" the cops were batting 0 for 4 in this incident.
What do you suppose this says about the "average" cop?

Or do you think that somehow the only four *sshole cops in the State of Tennessee managed to show up at this one stop?

[Redbob]

You've never been to Cookville, have you?
They'll probably put up a statue to Officer Hall.

[walkingdead]

I look at it like this. Just replace the dog with a drunk friend this family was giving a ride home. Now, the drunk gets outta the car (having just woke up from being passed out) and weaves his way towards the cop to find out whats going on. The cop tells him to stay there, but the drunk can't hear him due to traffic. So he staggers forward, and the cop blows his head off at the shoulders all in the space of three seconds.

You see, this could just as easily been the way it went down, only you'd have a dead guy instead of a dog. Is either scenario right? Of course not, our un-educated law enforcement is becoming quite a danger.....

Now I'm with a few of the people on this thread. I'd go home, grab my 12ga. and wait on that cops front porch for him to get home. Because you see, he killed my dog, which could have just as easily been my son/daughter/wife/dad/ect. This police officer derserves to be removed from the gene pool.

[walkingdead]

stupid law enforcement/dog killin ping

[Redbob]

"Wow. If I ever turn meglomaniac and want to enslave an entire population, a few million like you would be quite handy."

Funny you'd mention that: seems like you're well on your way already!

[TaZ]

"Two sides to every story."

Yep, in Nazi Germany you had the humanity of the Gestapo to take into consideration when considering the fate of the Jews he slaughtered...

You would make a great trial lawyer for mass-murderers.