Rookie East Texas deputy fired after shooting farm dog

[ScreamingMeemie]

***an Update to this story: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4855596***

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/state&id=9516656

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A rookie East Texas sheriff's deputy has been fired after shooting a farm dog during a burglary call and the owner then euthanized his critically wounded pet.

Rains County Sheriff David Traylor on Thursday fired Deputy Jerrod Dooley after the department received threats. Traylor says Dooley, who was hired less than six months ago, used bad judgment and was terminated for his own safety.

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Dooley on April 18 answered a burglary call near Point. Patrol car video shows a blue heeler in the bed of a parked truck. Dooley is later heard telling owner Cole Middleton that the dog charged him and he shot the animal.

Middleton screams as Dooley apologizes and refuses to kill the wounded dog.

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[Comrade Grumpy]

1. Cop shoots dog. A daily occurrence in this great land of ours. n/t

[ScreamingMeemie]

2. Cop gets fired for it. Not so daily. n/t

[penultimate]

3. Glad they did the right thing...

If he showed such carelessness and lack of judgement here, it's best they get him off the street before he kills a person or more pets.

[Archae]

4. I think the only reason he got fired was because he was a rookie.

[Wounded Bear]

5. Stupid cop...

If he'd shot a person, he'd still be employed.

[Aerows]

6. I hope they sue the shit out of the Rains County Sheriff's Department

because that asshole just deprived him of a valuable employee, not to mention a family member. Six-Figures won't be enough to get the point across, but it might be enough to make them think twice about hiring a twitchy butthead that shoots as a first response on a report of a victim having their fucking house robbed.

The person that made the call is on a fucking tractor, there is a dog - not a big dog, a cattle dog - in the bed of the truck. Is it really all that damn surprising that there is a dog on the damn property?

And he is REPORTING a damn crime, and then had horrible criminal trespass done to him for being an honest citizen. Something doesn't sit well with me in all of this. Maybe Dooley knew who burglarized his place, and was covering for them and tried to escalate the incident.

Dirty cops are dirty cops no matter how far out in the sticks they are.

[ladjf]

7. That's great news! There was absolutely no justification for shooting that dog.

I think it irritates policemen that dogs aren't intimidated by them. Dogs perceive the police as intruder.