Austin Police Shoot Dog (video)

M

msdw24

1,000+ Posts
Have to say this is very disturbing!

www.statesman.com/
The video doesn't show the shooting, but you hear the audio and it's very clear. I have to say I am appalled by this. As a dog owner (black lab) I would be furious if this happend to my pet. He is a member of our family.

My question is this...WHY in the world did the officer even have his gun out? You can see him unlocking his holster as he walks up and out of frame. Then it's a very quick BAM.

Not only did the officer go to the wrong house, he pulled his gun on an innocent person and shot and killed his dog. Why didn't the officer use a taser?

You then hear the owner saying "I need to get him to a vet" and the officer saying to "keep your hands up" This whole thing just makes me want to
pukey.gif
 
I don't think I can watch this

I do appreciate that sometimes police don't know if a dog is dangerous or not but yes why not use a taser

and then why refuse to let the owner get his dog help
If this were me i'd be tempted to disregard the police telling me to keep my hands and and risk them shooting me as i got my dog to a vet

using the word of Ted Nugent i'd either be dead or in a jail but i'd try to save my dog.
 
That is so horrible!!! A tradegy in so many different ways!!!

I can only imagine what would I do in that situation, the cop then tells me to put my hands up, asks for my ID while my dog is sitting there shot? Screw that, shoot me, I am tending to my dog that you just shot....I would have told the cop to put his hands up, I am making a Citizen Arrest.

Then the cop goes into immediate cover his *** mode, paraphrasing, you saw your dog was about to attack me and bite me right? My dog has never bit anyone......

This one has me torn, I understand the cop's position, going into that situation, but if that was my dog........holy hell.......

The cop may be a good cop, but that ends his law enforcement career.

Man what a tragedy....
 
It's sad about the dog but it was a situation where anything that could go wrong did. The officer was sent to a wrong address for a domestic violence situation. Many cops have been shot and killed by a crazy man who just beat up or killed his girlfriend or wife so you can see why the officer was on edge. 2nd I grew up in a small town where people had that type dog for working cows and such. Those dogs are very loyal and almost loyal to a fault. They are very protective of their master, family and property. If that dog was running toward the officer, the dog was not going to lick his hand and wag his tail. He was going toward the officer to attack him for getting to close to his master. It's sad that it happened but until you are the one standing there thinking you are dealing with a potential wife beater with a nasty dog coming at you, don't judge.
 
WHO on here judged the cop?
Most of us have said we understand a PO position and just asking if there was another way
would a taser have worked?


and from the innocent homeowners standpoint what was he to think when a armed PO is moving toward him?
did the PO identify himself?
WAs the home owner armed? if not why even without the dog wouldn't the PO have used his taser on the homeowner if the homeowner didn't comply?

i ma asking because i do not know police procedure.
 
It was a Blue Heeler.

The Austin use of firearms document seems to support the police officer if he feels threatned.

It is quite obvious that this policy needs to be reviewed.

I think the bigger issue is that someone can be driving by something and call 911 and the police respond.

This person was driving down east 6th street, what 35 MPH, saw a domestic disturbance, got an inaccurate address and the cop showed up at the wrong house? People dialing 911 are way out of control. I wonder how many bogus or ******** calls they respond too?
 
OP brought up a good topic. Seems to me that APD (and many other PD's) should invest more time in training officers to holster their sidearms and make more use of their tasers. I assume most metropolitan uniformed officers carry one, and I cannot think that the officer felt that use of a taser was insufficient in fatally stopping the dog.

It seems to pop up in the news more and more that officers tend to use deadly force before they check down the list of other restraining weapons.

Sad story that seems could have been avoided.
 
I hope the Austin Police Department pays this man some sort of compensation. If the police show up to the wrong house and destroy property (in this case killing this man's dog), they should have to pay for it.
 
"if not why even without the dog wouldn't the PO have used his taser "

Austin has very much become a shoot first, tase second kinda town. Way to go APD.
 
$500 is not the going rate for a dog. Sure you can pick up a dog at the pound for less than $100 but that is not the issue. How about if the officer shoots your girlfriend. Does he only need to reimburse you the money you spend on drinks and dinner that help to get you to know her? I know that is a stupid analogy but I am having to use it b/c your comment is so off base.

They need to reimburse the man for pain and suffering. My dog is a part of my family. And my dog will run up to anybody. She may bark and she may even jump up on you. But she won't bite and she just wants to say Hi and play. They are loving animals. I also have a blue heeler. They are very territorial but are not aggressive like a pit bull is or something. There is no concern over death from a dog like this. If you are using a gun you should be using it b/c there is no other alternative in order to save your life. The video clearly shows the officer shooting the dog in a matter of seconds, so he must have just simply shot the dog as soon as he saw it running at him. He never took a moment to evaluate the situation. Also he had the gun pulled and ready to go. If you are an officer and ready to pull your gun shouldn't you have called for backup before you got out of your car? I mean if you think the situation is that dangerous that you need to have your gun ready as soon as you step out of the car then you need assistance.

This situation reminds me of the case of mistaken identity not too long ago where the cops handcuffed a man while he walked with his granddaughter. They assumed he was guilty and IMO they detained him unlawfully with restraint with no reason. They could have handled that situation differently. Here they go in again assuming this man has committed some crime and they have their gun out waiting for something to happen. Perhaps this officer has had a previous history with a violent aggressive dog or he just remembers the officer Padron incident that happened so recently so he is not waiting to evaluate and is just going to walk around with his gun ready to go.

What is even worse to me is how the officer acts after the man tells him he lives there, he has no girlfriend, he didn't know the officer was around the corner, and he hasn't done anything. The officer can't even admit that he might have done something wrong. I bet if the reverse happened and a police dog came running around the corner and shot it (though I don't own a gun) that I would get charged with shooting a police officer. However here they will likely just suspend the officer for a few days and give him some training. Give your entire depatment training police chief.
 
I have a red heeler and this does piss me off. I don't want to sound arrogant, but this breed is something special when it comes to personality, character and being part of the family. Every heeler I have ever seen acts in the same mode. There is no way this ******* cop should have shot this dog.
I feel this owners pain.
This piece of **** policeman should be fired and charges filed on him.
Don't get me wrong, if it was another breed such as a Rotweiler, Doberman etc, that actually could pose a risk, I could see it, but not a heeler.
 
According to the City of Austin PD Document for Authorized use of deadly force, looks like the PO was within regulations.

NOT TO SAY, the Regulations don't need to be reviewed and that the officer could have used better judgement.

This incident started with some Dudley Do Right, driving down East 6th Street at 35mph and noticing a couple arguing in their front yard and gave a wrong address. If you are going to interject yourselves into other people's business with incorrect information you should have some responsibility for your mistake.

If the location addresses don't line up, the PO should not have entered the property until additional confirmation could be made. I fault the 911 system, dispatcher, initial caller much more than the Police Officer. Those three people/systems caused the PO to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Again, I am not saying the PO is completely innocent of wrong judgement. It was not a large dog and the PO looked like a pretty big man that could have easily kicked the dog away if it jumped at him, not that the dog would have.

I would also like to know what kind of training and knowledge of dogs do Police Officers receive? What kind of training do Postal Workers receive?

I am thinking the dog owner should be suing the Austin PD, City of Austin, CAPCO(Austin 911 Management), and the caller of the original 911 call.

I am thinking a settlement of $100,000's.
 
The conservative comes out of Perm.....wow......

Sorry, but it is living and breathing, my dog is a very "Major" part of my family. He is a member of my family, sorry that you disagree or can't accept that dogs and pets are important parts of others families.
 
I thnk msdw24 did a good job in agreeing with me; specifically in the notion that people's emotions carry them away.

His exhbit is exactly what I'm talking about.

A dog attacked a policeman. It is not unreasonable for the policeman to defend himself by shooting.

As usual, I apply my trenchant analysis and cold-blooded logic and reason to bear on the issue. I don't expect everyone to understand.
 
Compensation in this incident should not be viewed as a 'ca-ching' moment, like Perham has lectured us on, and told us that's the ONLY perspective at hand; instead, it should be used as a wakeup call to the APD that their current training techniques need to be questioned, and a good way to get through to top brass is to levvy a financial penalty/settlement against them. Handing over a paltry $500 is not going to spur them to make any changes.

People are entitled to feel however they want about animals. I, for one, choose to treat them with respect and affection (except cats, they're just spawn of the devil). I am conservative, educated, a pet lover, and don't mind gays marrying, btw.

For the record, did I miss Perham being granted the final say-so in any West Maul matters?
 
In a meta-view, this thread provides a good example of the inherent "me" aspect, the fundamental nature of human selfishness, that exists in most people when it comes to their "pet" projects.

Here, it is the insistence that the loss of their domestic quadruped entitles them to pain and suffering compensation because, you know, they really, really loved their pet. They probably even cried over it. Oh my, that certainly should be worth some taxpayer money for you.

Give me a break.
 
The cop shot a dog.

Unfortunate, and for pet lovers, not unlike shooting a child. Still, it's a dog and their standing in the eyes of the law isn't so grand.

Meanwhile, the cop largely did what he was supposed to do. Since he didn't shoot a person the leeway he is going to be given will be considerable and that is appropriate.

Pain and suffering? No dice. Forget about it.

Just an unfortunate situation wherein a cop properly following up on bad info killed a DOG. Them's the breaks kid. We can afford to be left less than whole on this sort of account.

The cross section of this case with the Trayvon Martin case is kind of funny to think about. Let's see...

People who **** up when failing to mind their own business should bear some responsibility...

No one seems to care too much about the literally thousands of dogs the state destroys on a regular basis after keeping them locked up in cages for god knows how long, why the hub bub about this one dog...

The cop had a right to be there, to carry the weapon, and to stand his ground when attacked by a vicious animal with questionable jewelry around its neck...

It was a watch dog doing his job, unarmed, and a cop doing his job, armed. Isn't it possible that they just both made an error and there is no blame...
 
The dog was an animal and the value of the dog is inconsequential in dollars. There is no recourse in regards to pain and suffering, therefore the recourse needs to be against the officer as in losing his job, and he should lose his job for firing his weapon.
We are talking about the officer FIRING HIS WEAPON for no good reason and killing a harmless heeler. The risk to HUMAN LIFE by his firing his weapon needs to be condidered.
This officer obviously has a fear of dogs and failed to use the common sense that a rational police officer should possess when he drew and fired his weapon on a defensless pet.
Think Daschund or Beagle, not Rotweiler or Doberman.
The homeowner is fortunate he was not shot as this officer is incompetant, dangerous and due the unexcusable firing of his weapon unfit to be a police officer.
 
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