Cop goes to wrong house, shoots owners dog.

[CCountZero]

Snip

No it is not correct practice to be trigger happy and shoot someone's pet with zero evidence that the person inside the building is even doing anything wrong. Just because it's Texas doesn't make it okay and finally, they do have other equipment you know? The firearms are just there in case of emergency.

First of all, you have no evidence that he was "trigger happy". You don't know how the dog actually behaved, or what it would have done.
You know what the owner told the officer, but the owner isn't a guaranteed credible source of information.

As for "shooting without evidence", that's complete bull.
If the officer is faced with a clear and present danger to himself or others, he will employ whatever means necessary to stop whom- or whatever poses the danger.
Once again, none of us know exactly why the officer was there, nor what he was told when he got the call to go there.
The officer felt threatened by the dog, and proceeded to defend himself against what he perceived to be an attack.
You can argue that the owner was telling the officer that the dog wouldn't hurt him, but the fact of the matter is that the owners word could not be taken at face value in that situation.

As for them having other equipment, they most certainly do, but he also has every right to go into what he perceives as a potentially dangerous situation with his weapon drawn.
The Tazer is a great tool, but it's only good for one shot at a limited range, and even then hitting a small dog with it is gonna be very hard to do.
He might have had better luck with the pepper spray, but he didn't pull that, perhaps because he didn't feel like he had time to remove one hand from his weapon to get it off his belt, I don't know and neither do you.

Bottom line, you're presuming to know a whole lot about what exactly went on, and what had happened prior to this, and you don't know these things.

He was at the wrong address, and someone else replying to this post even said that he might have been given the wrong address by someone else, meaning it wasn't even his mistake to begin with.

 

[Aprilgold]

Oh my god a human being made a mistake, you are kidding me. Yeah I thought the rest of us are perfect. That is the final straw, time to make a "lets kill all cops thread." May your torches burn bright and your pitchforks pointy, it's cop killing time. Everyone on this planet signed a pact to be perfect, I won't stand a glitch in the system. Almost can't type right now because my perfect world is falling apart. Lets put the joking aside and say he made a mistake, will probably feel bad for a long time.

A man in a position of power and respect making a mistake is worse then getting carrots instead of cabbage for the stew. I don't know what you think since you might be sarcastic about the top, or only half, or only a quarter, but you did tell everyone a while back to look in between the lines so I'm going to guess you think that were all arrogant fucks?

If I arrested and that man was lead to execution, however I got the wrong man and it was actually his room mate who was raping dudes then I just wasted a ton of money from the government on a innocent man plus the dude would keep raping dudes so nothing got fixed and now the family has a dead son on their hands.

It wouldn't be easy to pass off as a mistake, since it was me being a lazy ass to not double check who I was arresting first.

Of course you could be honestly joking then this whole up-above thing wouldn't actually matter, but remember, on the internet, everything is permanent unless you edit it out later.

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Same thing I always say, why the hell do we allow normal officers to carry guns unless its for someone we know or highly suspect of having a weapon?

I honestly think that he should have just been better at his job and have gone after the real culprit instead of his neighbor.

 

[emeraldrafael]

You could debate the worth of a police officer vs a surgeon (because at the moment Id rather feel safe in the knowledge theres an officer who will directly deal with the criminal so that id ont have to and put myself in the danger) based on the needs a person wants fulfilled, though Id have to question what a Surgeon is doing doing a police officers duties.

1. That is exactly the sort of thinking that leads to things like this. Scared white people needing a security blanket in the form of trigger-happy policemen.
2.You know damn well I was not saying that the surgeon would have been in the exact same situation. Don't pretend you are stupid.

didnt Norway have a summer camp shooting not all that long ago?

Terrorism =/ school shootings.

I dont know need a trigger happy one. Personally I dont even care for the police force in my area, but its the same idea as the army. I wish they didnt have to be employed in that particular profession, but since they do, Im glad that they are willing to do it and protects me from having to do this. It has nothing to do with race (which says something else completely about you), but we have a rather decent black community where I live and they also enjoy the protection that the police provide, as do the Asians, the arabic muslims, and the old polish couple.

still stands to reason that a surgeon can and does fuck up, and they arent nearly as scrutinized as it seems one would believe. Cops arent infallible, and very few do something like this. But you dont hear about them cause its not good new ratings.

and school shootings are a form of terrorism. its local and domestic, so yes, school shootings = terrorism.

But if that doesnt count I count 16 or 17 school shootings on this <url=http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777958.html>list that took place outside the United States.

 

[SweetNess_666]

If there's any justice the police officer will have lost his job and his life is being made a living hell, I'msorry but when your carrying a deadly weapon mistakes aren't allowed I would love to put a bullet between that dog killers eyes (yes I am a animal lover )

 

[SEXTON HALE]

This is unfortunately hillarious.
But it still makes me feel rather sad.
I feel sorry for the owner thats pretty rough.
But nothing but contempt for the police officer.

 

[Kenbo Slice]

If someone harmed my dog I'd probably attack them, regardless of who they were. I realize that doesn't sound reasonable, but reason is out of the window when your loved one has been gunned down in front of you. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Dasick]

This is seriously disturbing. A police officer should not be able to barge into my home and shoot someone I love. Yes, some"one", not some"thing". I'm pretty sure that in this scenario if you switch the dog to a kid with a toy gun or something, the officer's response (and justification) would be the same.

A "domestic violence" is a "potentially lethal" scenario, that is true, but it's also a very "she said, he said" kind of situation. The officer's duty is to investigate these kinds of distress calls, not barge in gun's drawn.That's what you do when you have confirmed information about an armed and dangerous individual, when looking at the bare facts presented you can do nothing but say "Yep, he's a bad guy alright. Let's git 'im boys".

Oh sure, maybe the perp will be given a warning and a head start. Maybe the bad guy will get a weapon to attack the officer with. Or maybe there was a misunderstanding which will be resolved with a knock on the door. And sometimes kids call the police when their parents take away their Xbox. Or a man will make the domestic violence call because, believe it or not, women are capable of violence against men (did you know that when a "domestic violence" call occurs, the police - always - have to book the guy?).

The thing is, I respect police officers. It's a tough job, and you're risking your life constantly. But you have to accept those risks. It is unacceptable that an innocent man is harmed, even if thousands of guilty go free, even if thousands of police officers die. This is basic ideals of democracy we're talking about, and they cannot be compromised unless on a very, very, very exceptional and important occasion. Otherwise, we're steering right into the territory of totalitarianism and shitty franchise ruining ending villains that want to destroy us all in order to prevent us from destroying ourselves.

Maybe the above is unreasonable and idealistic, but guess what? So is the concept of "justice" or "love for humankind", so is the notion behind any piece of art, and so is every great man or woman that did something that truly matters.

Also, I'm pretty sure there are enough anti-government clauses in the Constitution that the victim would have been justified (at least, in the eyes of the founding fathers) in defending himself. A stranger bursts in my home, pointing a weapon at me? I haven't done anything wrong, for all I know he's impersonating a police officer.

TLR - Terrorists win.

CAPTCHA: "love you". I agree captcha, I think we all need to show a lot more love to fellow man. That being said, I love you Escapist

EDIT: captcha: love is automatic. umm, what?!

 

[evilneko]

...except that it was the wrong house

This part is irrelevant.

How is this part irrelevant? This is the reason the dog is dead, it is perfectly relevant. Instead of putting yourself in the officers shoes, put yourself in the victims shoes. If an officer broke into your house, held you at gunpoint and then shot your dog would you still feel that the fact he is in the wrong house is irrelevant? No, I do not think you would.

And I don't care if you have a dog or not, I'm saying this as a theoretical situation. You say you can't blame the officer? He was in the wrong house, he is the only one to blame here.

I already explained why it's irrelevant.

 

[SnakeoilSage]

Don't cops have training for dealing with dogs? You'd think so. What if a police dog loses control? Or a drug dealer keeps some vicious dogs in his house?

The cop should at least be suspended and removed from that kind of duty. Take away his firearm and have him slapping up traffic tickets for a few years.

Your forgetting that this happened in the US. Their training is shoot first and ignore the questions later.

I didn't forget. I guess I keep my expectations a little too high.

 

[waj9876]

...Meh, shit happens. You can't honestly expect everyone everywhere to make the right decisions under pressure. Sure the cop should be held accountable for his actions, but it isn't as black and white as "evil officer shoots innocent dog". That officer didn't go in their planning to shoot whatever he saw, he reacted in a way that, if the dog had actually been attacking him, would have been a good thing.

The world isn't always "good versus evil" like so many people seem to think. Crap happens.

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Your forgetting that this happened in the US. Their training is shoot first and ignore the questions later.

Yeah yeah. The Unites States is an evil, corrupt nation with horrible trigger-happy bastards who will shoot randomly and get away with it. Now that we've gotten your ignorant statement based on the actions of a few people out of the way, can we please get on topic?

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

How is this part irrelevant? This is the reason the dog is dead, it is perfectly relevant. Instead of putting yourself in the officers shoes, put yourself in the victims shoes. If an officer broke into your house, held you at gunpoint and then shot your dog would you still feel that the fact he is in the wrong house is irrelevant? No, I do not think you would.

And I don't care if you have a dog or not, I'm saying this as a theoretical situation. You say you can't blame the officer? He was in the wrong house, he is the only one to blame here.

How about you watch the video first? He was at the reported adress, he did not make the mistake, he assumed the reported situation and thought that the dog would attack him.

The big thing is: He was at the REPORTED adress = they got the wrong adress.

He went into the house with his weapon drawn even though there was no signs of disturbance at the house. And as someone said earlier, there was a report that said the man told the officer that the dog would not harm him and yet he shot it anyway. Without even giving the owner a chance to restrain it.

So he went into the home of an innocent man with his weapon drawn, for something as simple as an argument between a couple, he had his weapon drawn. The man was unarmed yet he still held him at gunpoint. The man told the officer that the dog would not harm him and then the officer shot the dog without letting the owner restrain it. A stranger just walked into the dogs home, of course the dog is going to bark, it's what dogs do.

Reported address or not, what the officer did was wrong and he shouldn't be defended for it. It's the officers responsibility to make sure that they are definitely going to the right house. I'm wondering if they got the caller to actually confirm that it was definitely the correct address he'd mentioned before they acted. Or if they just got the call and went "Yep we'll take care of that". Let's also not forget that the officer just simply walked into the house. He didn't knock, he just walked right in. He should have knocked first, especially since there were no signs of disturbance. If there was no answer only then he should have let himself in

 

[Kungfu_Teddybear]

snip

But he should not be held account for things he had no control over. Like the fact that the information he got was false. On the rest I shall let the investigation people judge and no one who has only the news and tape as information.

You're right, the fact that he was given the wrong address was not his fault, however that does not excuse his actions once he arrived at the property.

It is also why I would like to know whether they got the caller to confirm the given address or if they just went without giving it any more thought. If they didn't get the caller to confirm that he/she gave the correct address then they are simply idiots, and so is the man/woman that called it in for giving the wrong address in the first place.

 

[JoJo]

You'd do the same thing?

I'm glad your not a police officer then. Another idiot policeman is something that really isn't needed.

Wow, thanks for contributing to the discussion El Luck, that comment was really enlightening.

...

Oh you edited it out, what a shame. You do know I could still report that to the mods right, since I've got a helpful copy in my inbox? It's your lucky day however I'm too lazy to bother, so instead I'll expand on my earlier point, so that you may understand my reasoning.

Yes, I'd do exactly same thing as the police officer. As a university biology student I'm very familiar with the fact that a dog is no more intelligent or special than many of the animals we consume for food every day and thus I'd have no qualms about dropping some hot lead into Fido if he so much as gave me or any of my family a funny look. If you want to keep a domesticated wolf then go ahead but don't blame me for not giving it the benefit of the doubt if it looks like it wants to make my eight year old sister its next meal, from my point of view it's worth sacrificing any number of dogs to protect one human life.

 

[El Luck]

You'd do the same thing?

I'm glad your not a police officer then. Another idiot policeman is something that really isn't needed.

Wow, thanks for contributing to the discussion El Luck, that comment was really enlightening.

...

Oh you edited it out, what a shame. You do know I could still report that to the mods right, since I've got a helpful copy in my inbox? It's your lucky day however I'm too lazy to bother, so instead I'll expand on my earlier point, so that you may understand my reasoning.

Yes, I'd do exactly same thing as the police officer. As a university biology student I'm very familiar with the fact that a dog is no more intelligent or special than many of the animals we consume for food every day and thus I'd have no qualms about dropping some hot lead into Fido if he so much as gave me or any of my family a funny look. If you want to keep a domesticated wolf then go ahead but don't blame me for not giving it the benefit of the doubt if it looks like it wants to make my eight year old sister its next meal, from my point of view it's worth sacrificing any number of dogs to protect one human life.

I got rid of it because I can't be arsed with this topic any more and I also realised how much of a dickish comment it was so I removed it, so do what you want with it, whatever floats your boat.

Anyway, I can see your point but looking at this entire mess...nope fuck it, I can't be bothered with this anymore