Police officer wounds 4-year-old girl while trying to shoot her dog

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Raw Story

Police officer wounds 4-year-old girl while trying to shoot her dog
Bethania Palma Markus
20 Jun 2015 at 22:05 ET

police officer in Ohio was trying to shoot a family dog that was charging toward him, but missed and hit a 4-year-old girl instead, the Columbus Dispatch reports.

The little girl, identified as Ava Ellis, was hit in the right leg on Friday and taken to Children’s Hospital, where she is expected to make a full recovery, the paper reports. The officer, who was not named, was following up on a hit-and-run case when he was flagged down by a woman who said her sister had cut herself.

“He went to see what was going on, and when he got close to the doorway, a dog charged at him,” police spokeswoman Denise Alex-Bouzounis told the Columbus Dispatch. “He fired a shot to hold the dog back, missed the dog and accidentally struck the 4 year old in the leg.”

The incident happened in Whitehall, a small city just outside Columbus.


Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/police-officer-wounds-4-year-old-girl-while-trying-to-shoot-her-dog/

[Demeter]

1. Don't tasers work on dogs?

[immoderate]

2. ... or a cookie?

--imm

[Mojorabbit]

17. yes! ffs at least try a cookie or have the family put the pup back in the bedroom. nt

[truthisfreedom]

11. Yes.

[valerief]

12. Not macho enough.

[ManiacJoe]

19. Hard target to hit.

Pepper spray does a decent job though.

[Shrike47]

3. Black lab?

[FailureToCommunicate]

35. +1

[irisblue]

4. what an ass

what an ass

[EL34x4]

5. It's gotten to the point where I don't think any situation is improved

by getting the police involved.

The little girl had a cut.

Cops were flagged down for assistance.

Now she has a cut, a gunshot wound and probably a dead pet dog.

[Ed Suspicious]

15. 100 watt Marshall, EL34x4?

[Judi Lynn]

6. Columbus police officer injures 4-year-old while shooting at dog

Columbus police officer injures 4-year-old while shooting at dog
By Henri Gendreau
The Columbus Dispatch • Saturday June 20, 2015 5:43 AM



A Columbus police officer accidentally wounded a 4-year-old girl in Whitehall on Friday when he fired at a charging dog, police said.

A neighbor and the girl’s uncle identified her as Ava Ellis, who was taken to Nationwide Children’s Hospital, where police said she was in stable condition.

The officer was at a house in the 4100 block of Chandler Drive investigating a hit-and-run case about 3:10 p.m., Columbus police spokeswoman Denise Alex-Bouzounis said.

As the officer was walking from the home to his patrol car, a woman a few houses away called out to him, saying her sister and the girl’s mother, Andrea Ellis, had cut herself.

More:
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2015/06/19/whitehall-officer-involved-shooting.html

[center]~ ~ ~[/center]
Ohio Cop Shoots 4-Year-Old Girl While Trying to Shoot Family Dog
Posted by: Cassandra Fairbanks June 19, 2015

A 4-year-old girl is in the hospital tonight after being shot by a Columbus police officer who was only trying to kill the family dog.
The incident occurred Friday afternoon when a woman called the Ohio cop over for help with her sister who had cut herself.

The officer, who had been walking out of a home where he had been investigating a hit-and-run accident, made his way to the other family’s home.

But when he stood in the doorway, he claims the family dog came charging at him, so he pulled out his gun and fired, striking the child in the right leg.

. . .

In January, Autumn Steele, a 34-year-old mother was killed by an Iowa police officer in front of her 4-year-old son as the officer was attempting to shoot their family pet.

More:
http://photographyisnotacrime.com/2015/06/ohio-cop-shoots-4-year-old-girl-while-trying-to-shoot-family-dog/

Looks as if the new reality is you must be prepared to see your dog killed right before your eyes if a police gentleman or woman ever comes to your house, or sees it in your yard as he walks by. Once the dogs are all gone, they'll probably start killing cats. Parrots, next, then parakeets. Hamsters? Mice? Spiders? A spider might kill a cop, if it's a black widow, or a brown recluse, and they don't have time to check.

[Romeo.lima333]

7. this sentence here

But when he stood in the doorway, he claims the family dog came charging at him, so he pulled out his gun and fired, striking the child in the right leg.

it's says the dog charged him and he shot the child

[Judi Lynn]

8. Maybe he was actually more afraid of the child!

I hate the part which says "he was only trying to kill the dog."

Crazy!

[Kelvin Mace]

13. Well, to be fair,

he thought the dog had a gun. But it turned out to be a chew toy. Could happen to anyone.

[C Moon]

36. You all are cracking me up!

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

30. Maybe he could have closed the door?

And told the folks inside 'Please cage your dog, or remove it to the back yard before I come in.'

rather than simply resort to lethal force immediately.

[Aerows]

41. If I ever have some

reason to have police intervention (which I hope to heaven I never do) my cat will likely be shot.

She's extremely protective. She ran at a dog that was roughly the size of a retriever that got too close to the porch. Recently, she got after a raccoon. She's like that cat that ran after the dog that yanked that child off of his tricycle. The shit she will put up with is exactly zero when her people and her home are involved.

[MrMickeysMom]

47. WHAT...

In January, Autumn Steele, a 34-year-old mother was killed by an Iowa police officer in front of her 4-year-old son as the officer was attempting to shoot their family pet.

THE… FUCK… ?

[betsuni]

9. I need to know what this terrifying Hound of the Baskervilles look like.

Can't find it, only that the officer was described as a "big guy" and the dog as a "mutt."

[Kelvin Mace]

14. I am guessing it was black.

[calikid]

10. Dogs can tell the good guys from the bad

[frylock]

16. Calling that crackhead instead of the police sounds more appealing every day.

[Aerows]

42. I know, right?

At this point a meth head is probably saner security than the damn police.

[tabasco]

18. Cowardly asshole

How cowards love their guns.

[secondwind]

20. Their response appears always to be the same: SHOOT wtf?

[davidpdx]

21. The cop should be smacked upside the head, charged with deadly assault, and fired

[FlaGranny]

22. Cops need to be

trained to "read" dogs. Nine times out of 10 an untrained or poorly trained dog will rush the door, and most of the time they just want to say hello. It's pretty darn easy to tell, if you know what to look for, whether the dog is being aggressive. A little training of cops (and dogs owners, too) would go a long way in these situations. Of course, a lot of cops need a lot of training in using their weapons in all situations.

[Aerows]

43. Dogs by nature

protect their pack, and their pack is their family. Nothing surprising about it. It's dog behavior and any animal that loves their home and family will do it.

The police are just shooting because they can at this point, because everybody knows the family dog is going to protect their people, but will also listen and obey without striking.

[FlaGranny]

46. Some will not always listen.

My dog, for instance. He's 5 and has had a lot of training, but I would never trust him at the door, inside our house or outside in our yard. Everywhere else he is fine. He is very territorial and will deliver a nip. He's not a big dog but he does scare people. The whole time I've had him it has been a power struggle. Every so often it is back to basic training to refresh his memory that I am in charge.

[secondvariety]

23. What a dope.

Postal workers run into similar situations everyday without having to shoot a little kid.

[Locrian]

24. yes

I ran into ALL the time as a 14 yr old paper boy back in the day. German Shepards, Great Danes, mutts, whatever came at me. And I never needed a gun to deal with it.

[thesquanderer]

39. Or a dog, for that matter. (n/t)

[City Lights]

25. Wow.

:shakesheadindisbelief:

[ladjf]

26. The dog shooting spree by cops is just a target practice game

played by police. nt

[unblock]

27. somewhere on a distant planet,

a cop is throwing himself in between a charging dog and a 4-year old girl.

you simply cannot shoot when you might reasonable kill an innocent instead. the cop was not likely in mortal peril. there was plenty of time to see if the dog was actually going to bite or scratch instead of merely lick. or pee for that matter. moreover, the family was right there to pull the dog off. finally, the cop could have defended himself with a baton instead of a gun. or maybe he could have tried to dodge the dog.

or maybe cops need more training in how not to kill family pets, never mind how not to shoot toddlers.

ay, oh, way to go ohio!

[FreakinDJ]

28. Where in the Fuck do they get these pieces of shit

Our tax dollars pay the salary of idiots with guns

Thanks Officer "Grow a Pair" for being too scared of the dog to think straight

[Sunlei]

29. notice the officer, missed, never got touched by the dog and walked back to his car.

Have to say though, owner was using the 'shock collars' & invisible fence across the front door.

Dogs become much more 'worked-up' behind that kind of invisible barrier and can appear very threatening.

Even in yards with invisible fence, if some kid or other dogs cross over that barrier...they tend to be attacked.

[eppur_se_muova]

31. Well, at least *someone* got shot, so he did his job.

[Malraiders]

32. When a cop is in fear for his life because

a dog merely growled at him, to the extreme point in time that he is OK with endangering a small child's life. to satisfy his malignant idea that his safety is the only thing that is important at the moment, well that cop needs to not be allowed to be a cop.

[graegoyle]

33. Change "accidentally shot" to "recklessly shot" and let's work from there.

[VA_Jill]

34. OK, enough already!

Use your f*cking taser! Or pepper spray! That's what the damn things are FOR!

[Vinca]

37. I suppose it's unheard of to call to an owner to restrain their dog.

This country is so insanely gun happy it appears we can't spare a moment for common decency. And cops . . . what's happened to them? They seem to be afraid of their shadows.

[Liberal_in_LA]

38. I don't understand using a gun as first defense against a dog

[Scalded Nun]

40. Using a gun (on ANYTHING) is a cop's first line of response

It did not used to be that way, but that is our life as we know it now.

When you are in need of help, try and resolve it yourself.

Do not call a cop. You have no idea just how long your list of unintended consequences may become.

Cops = No Honor, No Shame.

[Enthusiast]

44. This cop will never live this down. He will forever be known as

the cop that shot the little girl. Way to go, dumbfuck!

[The Stranger]

45. So let me guess. They seized and put down the dog?

Usually the case.

[Xyzse]

48. Looks like someone needs a heck of a lot more training.

Seriously, you don't just shoot as soon as you feel threatened.

[Sparhawk60]

49. Was the Dog Black??

Could have just be force of habit for the cop. What else would a cop do if he sees a black, unarmed figure come at him?