Cop kills dog

This used to be my little slice of the world on the crime beat. This is not the first time this particular officer has been involved in a questionable shooting, but it is the first time he's been on video doing it.

About four years ago, he responded to a shooting that ended questionably, and he was cleared. Long story short: guy shoots ex-girlfriend's current bf, flees, this cop is the first to spot the car and pursue. Eventually, the shooter pulls over. Reports say he was out of his shit on alcohol and meth and looking to do a suicide by cop. Almost got his wish. The officer in question's story goes like this: he knew there was a confirmed shooting and this was the suspect, who is likely still armed. The windows are tinted so he can't see the suspect. So, instead of waiting for the back up (in this case, state police and county deputies because the pursuit went outside city limits), he walks up to the car and shoots once into the driver-side window. Bullet grazes the suspect's head. At the time, the department didn't have dash cams and no one else was on scene yet, so we have no idea if the suspect had fired or threatened or what. All we have is the officer's word for what happened.

When have you heard of a shooting/apprehension situation in which a lone officer does not wait for back up, does not draw his weapon and wait behind his cruiser door, but does walk up and shoot blindly into a car from a position in which he could have easily been shot and killed himself? There were a lot of questions that went unanswered because of the lack of video or other witnesses to the account.

Now, a lot of people not familiar with this town or area are mostly outraged over the shooting of the dog. But for the community, this is the last straw for dealing with a cowboy cop who has a less than pleasant reputation among the community and among colleagues in other jurisdictions. This outrage from the community is a few years in the making.

I got to know a lot of good cops in the community when I was on this beat. This guy ain't one of them.

 

Good post and good info, Bradley. Sounds to me like a guy who perhaps shouldn't even be allowed to own a gun, much less be a cop.

 

Been reading up more on it. Nampa PD (just west of Boise) is going to investigate. In Idaho, killing an animal is still just a misdemeanor. In criminal court, not much is going to happen to this guy at all, so people wanting that are barking up the wrong tree (hyuck hyuck). Does the owner have a civil suit? Beats me. I don't know all the fine nuances of Idaho civil law and how it relates to destruction of property in the course of an investigation, because a dog is legally considered property and the officer was responding to a complaint. It'll be interesting to see if it has legs. Of course, he's a city officer, so he has to be reprimanded or fired by the police chief. People want him recalled, but he's not a sheriff, therefore not an elected official. He's appointed by city government, so residents are going above the chief's head to city leaders.

Believe me, it's really fun to explain basic high school civics to people who are so outraged over this and asking me questions since I did the beat.

Also of fun note, there were two rallies in town: one agains the officer, one for the officer. About 300 or so people rallied against him, maybe 20 in favor. Like I said, the residents are upset about more than a dog shooting.

To hell with national politics and government, forget all the national outcry from people who only know a fraction of the story, this is more interesting because of the bigger picture: to see people trying to put their foot down against local government. The police chief says "so what?" The people don't think that's good enough. Can they affect real change? Local government may be the last place where regular people really can make a difference. We'll see.

 

And this one might take the cake. Cop shoots and kills dog on a leash, but claims the leash was too long. Captain defends the killing. Wow.

http://www.heraldonline.com/2014/03/05/5742510/officer-shoots-kills-dog-in-york.html

 

By the way, see if you can pick out the key word from the cop's quote.

 

Easiest challenge ever:
I instinctively drew my handgun and fired

 

If your first instinct is to shoot something in the head, the police academy failed you.

 

So the guy who got this thread started is suing the town of Hawthorne, Calif. Not sure how much of a case he'll have.

http://articles.latimes.com/2014/feb/14/local/la-me-ln-hawthorne-dog-shooting-lawsuit-20140214

This guy, on the other hand, I think has a pretty good case should he decide to file a lawsuit.

http://www.wkrg.com/story/24981767/mpd-officer-kills-dog-injures-another

 

Maybe I've just gotten cynical but it seems this wasn't a thing 10 years ago, 15 years ago. For the longest time, I just chalked up the "police are getting to hostile" rants as being a product of the tin foil society. Lately, I'm not so sure...

 

Or they were common and we just didn't know about them.