Cop Shoots Dog: Untrained Officers Commit 'Puppycide

[MrScorpio]

Last week, Austin, Texas, Police Chief Art Acevedo publicly apologized to Michael Paxton over the death of his dog Cisco. Paxton was playing fetch with the Australian cattle dog in his backyard when a police officer pulled into the driveway in response to a 911 call. The officer had the wrong house. When Paxton left the yard to get something from his truck, he said the officer confronted him. Cisco ran around from the back, toward the officer. The officer simultaneously ordered Paxton to put his hands in the air and to restrain his dog. The officer then shot the dog.



Cisco's death made national news. Paxton's Facebook page detailing the killing and calling for a reprimand of the officer, has generated more than 100,000 "likes." But Paxton isn't the first dog owner whose pet has been shot to death by police. A search of news articles from the past year shows more than 100 separate incidents.



There are no national records of dogs shot by cops. There isn't even good national data on the number of people shot by police. As a result, there's no way to tell if pet killings by police are increasing in frequency. The increased attention may be due to awareness or to news outlets more likely to report them. Pet owners also can publicize the incidents through social media. And with public surveillance, cell phone cameras, and security cameras, there is more likely to be video of a shooting. Sites that include "Dogs That Cops Killed" and the Facebook group "Dogs Shot by Police" track new incidents and allow grieving owners to share stories. The activism site Change.org also now includes calls for action in similar cases, with petitions like "Justice for Big Boy," and "Justice for Bud."



When police officers shoot dogs, departments usually deem the shooting justified if the officer felt threatened by the animal. But an officer's perception doesn't always mean the animal actually was a threat. In recent years, police officers have shot and killed chihuahuas, miniature dachshunds, Wheaton terriers, and Jack Russell terriers. Last month, a California police officer shot and killed a boxer puppy and pregnant chihuahua, claiming the boxer had threatened him. The chihuahua, he said, got caught in the crossfire. When a San Bernardino, Calif., woman called police to report a burglary in progress behind her house last month, they responded, jumped her fence to confront the burglars, then shot her dalmatian mix, Julio. He survived. Police officers have also recently shot dogs that were chained, tied, or leashed -- obviously posing no real threat to officers who killed them.




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/27/cop-shoots-dog-puppycide_n_1446841.html#s899927&title=Bubba

[MrScorpio]

1. Puppycide in Oklahoma

[Daveparts3]

2. George Zimmerman

law enforcement

[MrScorpio]

3. brave heroic cops kill 5 pound family dog

[Liberal_in_LA]

4. kick

[MrScorpio]

5. Cop Kills Innocent Family Dog

[sakabatou]

6. This dog looks like my late dog Hank

[MrScorpio]

7. Camden Police use 33 bullets to kill puppy, bullets hit cars & homes too.

[get the red out]

8. This scares me

I worry about it. I saw someone pulled over one night coming back from agility class with my BC mix and I wondered if a cop pulled me over and my dog barked (which she does at anyone approaching the car) would she be shot? I've read about these killings by trigger-happy cops frequently and I can't guarantee what I would do if it happened, I'd probably end up as a "suicide by cop" myself.

[MrScorpio]

9. Cop shoots Dog as Kids Watched

[alphafemale]

10. Cops today dress like commandos, but are pissy pants cowards.

I remember when cops dressed like mailmen and had nads of steel. The women cops were brave as hell too.

[MrScorpio]

11. NWO Police Shoot Dog At Wrong House.

[Ikonoklast]

12. When your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

KnR

[MrScorpio]

13. Family Dog Killed By Police Officer - Dog shot in the back after turning away

[Dawson Leery]

14. Fire the bastard and take his bloated pension away.

Filth!

Bust the damn FOP!

[Dawson Leery]

16. Cases such as this suggest that cutting police departments is not

always a bad thing.

[teenagebambam]

15. This is a huge fear of mine

When I lived in Maryland, I lived a few houses down from a home that the cops invaded for a drug bust and killed two big, friendly labs. Turns out they had the wrong house. It was, in fact, the MAYOR whose house they invaded and whose dogs were murdered.

[dogknob]

17. Standard procedure

My neighbor is a former CHP and doesn't even blink at stories like these. That's what they do.

[Meiko]

18. If you can shoot

and kill a dog for no reason as easily as stepping on a cockroach, you will do the same to people. COPS have no respect for the people they are suppose to be serving.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

19. :(

[MrScorpio]

20. Police arrive at wrong house, shoot dog

Facebook campaign "Justice for Cisco" puts pressure on Austin police over dog shooting

http://cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/us/2012/04/17/austin-police-officer-shoots-dog.kxan.html