So I finally saw the video. You can get it <a href="http://newschannel5.com/"; target="_blank">here</a> if you don't have the RealOne Pass thingy.
It really was a little puppy! <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> About the size of a large cat! Jeez, if the kids' bunny rabbit had hopped out of the car, wiggling its nose, these cops would have blown it away with a shotgun!
Ok, lets get one thing straight. You can tell from the video that the dog was not going to attack. Also the dog was so small it was incapable of inflicting any real harm on the officer.
I feel that this policeman not only should lose his job but he should do jail time. Yes, you heard right! If this is the way he reacts to situations he's dangerous. I've had dogs all my life. They are about the best friend a family can have. The dog probably didn't know what was going on or what the officer was doing. When a family loses their pet in such a way it's a terrible emotional blow.
If it had been me I would have had a very hard time restraining my self from doing bodily harm to the officer. Shotgun or no shotgun. The fact of the matter is after something so unwarrented happens like that how can you be sure he's not going to do the same to you? Of course the family was already handcuffed which brings up another fact that this is all based on a mistake on the part of the police in the first place!
The last I heard he was given a desk job for the time being. I hope they sue the hell out of him and make the rest of his life miserable. A lesson to other policeman who think it's ok to react like that.
The last I heard he was given a desk job for the time being. I hope they sue the hell out of him and make the rest of his life miserable. A lesson to other policeman who think it's ok to react like that.</strong><hr></blockquote>
It's S.O.P. for this department to put any officer on desk duty if they've been accused with a violent act. It's in no way a reprimand or permanent. The police culture in this country is very unhealthy. With high profile cases like these, the officer is usually reprimanded because there's too much negative PR. Unfortunately, more often than not the cases aren't this high profile.
Jeez, getting to where cops can't shoot anything anymore without catching grief...
I'M KIDDING, okay?!?!
That is truly horrible (I don't want to watch the video...that kind of stuff bothers me).
But here's how I know the world is completely backwards: this incident - awful and horrible and cruel and sad as it is - seems to be getting more attention and press than when a person is killed.
I just did a quick spin through the various 24/7 newschannels, and within 10 minutes or so, I caught reports of this, replays of the video, an interview with the family, two lawyers duking it out verbally, etc.
Meanwhile, last night a woman and her boyfriend were arrested after their five-year-old son was found dead in their home. Neighbors never called the police, even though they'd both been beating on the kid for almost two days.
I heard this story mentioned ONCE on the local news last night. And not once today...
the police officer says he did nothing wrong and everything by the book....perhaps he is right, but an innocent family was pulled over, an innocent family was told to get out of their car, an innocent family was forced to kneel on the ground while they are handcuffed and have multiple firearms aimed at them, an innocent family's pet is shot and killed in front of them....if nothing was wrong and everything is by the book, then they need to look very closely at the book...and look closely why they targeted this family....a single phone call for a woman on the street?? and the officers go in that hard on a suburban family??? thank god the people weren't arab or black or hispanic.....
i almost feel sorry for the officer because he has kids and is getting alot of shit over this....but i wonder how he would feel if this happened to him with his daughters in the car and all that?? would he accept as punishment to have his family pulled over randomly one night and having the family pet shot in front of his kids???
Let the guy go to this cops house, tie up his family, drag the dog onto the front lawn... no scrap that, the kitchen is fine.
Blast the dog right there in the kitchen. If anyone tries to get up, slap their ass back to the floor.
Sounds just sick doesn't it? Yeah, it is. Just imagine if you did it on the side of the road with people driving by and watching.... man, that would be even worse!
And whoever is saying "it's just a dog"... man, get real. Of course it's just a dog, and yes killing a person is TEN TIMES WORSE. But christ, being tied up and held down, watching your family pet ****ing gunned down beside your car?! That's messed up.
Guy needs to have some SERIOUS action taken against him.
I'd also like to see this guy's scores from the range. You know, the thing where the fake people spin around or pop up, and you have a split second to decide if it's a nun or an gun-weilding murderer?
Split second decision... this guy had about 10 seconds to look at the dog.
"Duh, I thought it was a full grown Pit Bull."
I'm surprised this genius didn't plug the kid it the head thinking he was a Rottweiler.
Clarification: I, in no way, wanted to give the impression this doesn't disturb and sadden me tremendously. I love dogs and cats.
My only thing was if there was this much passion and outrage everytime a teen kills another teen over something stupid, or a bullying husband kills his wife after years of abuse, etc. as there was over this incident, the world might be a slightly different place. A better place, even?
I think it's just human nature to feel this way about a cute animal getting hurt or killed. That's why people go bonkers over dolphins and seals getting killed...but tuna and warthogs? Screw 'em!
To paraphrase Jules, cuteness goes a long way.
I'm not sure what should happen to this cop. Since I won't watch the video, I can just go by accounts of how he acted and what the dog was doing.
But he sounds as though he may have been a TAD trigger happy.
Can the family get back in some way? Lawsuit and so forth? Would it hold up? What's the procedure for something like this?
pscates: One thing you should keep in mind is that there are scores of appalling animal torture and abuse cases every day which will never make front page news. We are quite well inured to both human and animal suffering in this, our best of all possible worlds. And, of course, this particular case transcends "mere" animal abuse, as the psychological trauma on the family must be factored in, as well.
(not to mention the literally millions of dogs and cats which must be destroyed every year because people are clearly too incompetent to be entrusted with the responsibility of properly breeding them. Imagine if millions of orphans were being euthanized every year because they didn't have homes!)
Paul, watch the video, its a police surveillance video you can barely make anything out.... it isn't graphic unless you have a vivid imagination and will give you a MUCH better understanding of the situation.
Having seen the videos (all three) which include several video interviews, I am also disgusted.
As somone else posted, I can also understand that many bad things happen to animals and people evey day. But that is no excuse for apathy.
I can understand that he is sorry, I can also understand that death threats to his family is most inappropriate. It has mortified a nation and made him a villian (like the Walmart child beater)
The police said they followed protocol and no blame is to be laid on the officer. The officer said he made a mistake though. Very odd...
I think the end result should be evaluated. An innocent family has been victimized, and thier property damaged (their dog).
I think the department and officer are both to blame. I also think the family has every right to sue the hell out of the police. I would also demand pain and suffering damages. I also think that the officer, although 'sorry', should quit the "don't judge me" appeal and start the grovelling. Fact remain's that some *ucked up stuff happened that night, and SOMEBODY is gonna burn for it (that's just the way the US media works). I think they have a pretty good patsy, and even if they are wrong in villifying him to the extent of death threats, I DO think the family has every right to sue him, and the department (which could include the dispatcher etc).
An important question is during the officers interview he only felt remorse AFTER he found out the family was innocent. I wonder if we would have heard of this horrible story had they been guilty...
PS: I don't have a dog, but man, after all this hub-ub, I sure can join the torch bearing people knocking on his door. We want a retribution, and buy God (and the constitution) I think we'll have it. My own qualm is keep it professional, and keep it in court. String him up in front of a dog loving jury and cook him. Then keep the department under constant review for about 5 years. Did they want all the publicity? Probably not. Did they get it? Sure, tons. Now they will have to pay for the tragic actions of the officer.
I don't know which to be more upset with. The 'gun happy' officer (which of course isn't true) or the *ucked up system which allowed such a felony stop to occur in the first place....
You folks here are high as a kite. In fact I want some of what you are on.
I remember the quote from one of my favorite books "save the whales but shoot the people, right" regarding how callous someone will be to another who doesn't share their political views.
We euthanize probably 100,000 dogs or so a day because there is simply no way to deal with them all. While this situation was upsetting to this family, it isn't as if they weren't uncuffed allowed back in their car and are having this situation dealt with. I have no doubt that they will get a decent cash settlement that will buy them a house or two by just dinging the liability insurance for the police department.
These folks could have decided they didn't want the dog, taken it to the pound and had it put down and no one here would or could have done a d*mn thing about it.
If anything it will likely lead to problems of this sort because when a small mistake over an animal that might be meatloaf depending upon what country you were in gets you threats of physical violence, calls for destroying your entire career and of course a few death threats then who in their right mind would ever want to serve that sort of public.
Every year there are dozens of high profile examples where the suspects had questionable behavior (that is not the case here) and the cops get handed their heads over the entire incident. This in terms makes anybody with half a brain get the heck out of the job. Then people complain even more about the idiots we have left over.
So he had trouble telling if a dog that would have been put down within any pound in three days, was attacking or not.
Would you take the job for probably a massive 40k a year when you get comments like this over a dog?
[quote]i hope they throw the book at these assholes
the cops are basically the group of people who couldn't graduate high school--basically, the lowest of the low.
i would want somebodies job for it
For the most part I'd say the police culture is very unhealthy.
That cop should be fired immediately, there's no excuse for that behavior.
I feel that this policeman not only should lose his job but he should do jail time.
Blast the dog right there in the kitchen. If anyone tries to get up, slap their ass back to the floor<hr></blockquote>
Oh yeah sign me up for 40k a year to protect and serve you morons. You only want my entire life destroyed for a mistake and god help if there was actual justification. (There really wasn't in this case)
I know the mother-in-law of one of the guys in that Riverside shooting. You know the one where the girl had done so much drugs that she got a flat and passed out in her car, with a gun on her lap. She was totally non-responsive and because they tried to handle it and screwed it up, all their lives were ruined.
<strong>I remember the quote from one of my favorite books "save the whales but shoot the people, right" regarding how callous someone will be to another who doesn't share their political views.</strong><hr></blockquote>
This is a little different. Most of us actually have a dog, and to most of us, it's a part of the family. Much different from some animal we've never seen (i.e, whale out in the middle of the ocean somewhere.)
I can say I love my animals about as much as I'd love my brother, so since you obviously have no pet nor have had one that you have ever given a flying **** about, maybe get a clue and imagine if your brother or sister was shot for no reason at all at point blank range with a shotgun by a clueless southerner?
And no, I think the people sending death threats are a little out of bounds. But I do believe this jack*** should be fined and fired.
<strong>The police said they followed protocol and no blame is to be laid on the officer. The officer said he made a mistake though. Very odd...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Apparently, protocol is killing all defenseless puppies. Half for fun, half just to see their owners freak out.
[quote] You Monday morning quarterbacks just kill me...
<hr></blockquote>
you carry a gun, you shoot a gun, you kill someone or something...you pay the price....
whether you are a cop or a kid on the street or a man in your home...you know this, you understand this...he thinks he is justified and will get his say in interview and possibly court...the thing is NOBODY wants to be in the situation of that family...i don't, they don't, murbot doesn't and i am sure that officer doesn't want himself and his family in that situation...it is a nightmare situation...and it is ****ed up...and we have to find a way to stop things like that happening...
the cop thinks he did right...all i ask is this, would the cop want the same to happen to him and his?? do we send cops out barrels blazing for so little info?? is there any price to pay when we do??? and yes, thankfully we live in such a protected and wonderful society that a pets life counts this much...life is grand, and when a person dies in the projects, it is an awful thing, and when a dog is gunned down on the side of the road while it's owners are handcuffed and helpless, it is an awful thing...awful things happen everyday and everyplace...doesn't mean we have to accept and like them and say, "no big deal, life is shitty all over"...g
You Monday morning quarterbacks just kill me... </strong><hr></blockquote>
If the family were to put the dog to sleep, it's their property and their choice sick or not. The police do not have the right to make that choice for me.
If I choose to burn my house down, that's my choice. If I choose to take my car to the junkyard and have it stripped for parts, that's my choice. The police do not have the right to make that choice for me.
The police culture in this country has become critically ill. This incident may or may not be indicative of that ill, but people have learned to be skeptical for a reason.
If I choose to burn my house down, that's my choice. If I choose to take my car to the junkyard and have it stripped for parts, that's my choice. The police do not have the right to make that choice for me.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Your examples don't work because the fire department does not have to light a fire to do their work for the public. Likewise the junkyard owner does not serve the public and even if he did, it is not likely he could "accidentally" junk your car.
However as strange as those examples are let us go ahead and consider them for a moment.
What I pointed out is that killing a dog is not a capital offense. The family could choose to do it themselves and suffer no penalty. The fact that the cop did it likely means a nice claim again the liability insurance of the city as I mentioned before.
Suppose the fire department made a mistake and did actually burned down your house.
Would you consider it a civil matter or would you want the guy fired and jailed?
Likewise again consider if your car were somehow accidentally "junked," should that equal jail time? It is again a civil matter.
Lastly the police do use firearms in the execution of their job responsibilities. The firefighters do not have to bring fire to your house for their job nor does the junk man bring a scrapper.
All you have done is shown how you have a grudge against the police. You repeatedly state that they have an unhealthy culture, but you don't state how or what you would do to change it.
That is why I call you a Monday morning quarterback. Because of course you sitting in your office chair know more than someone laying it on the line night after night.
<strong>This is a little different. Most of us actually have a dog, and to most of us, it's a part of the family. Much different from some animal we've never seen (i.e, whale out in the middle of the ocean somewhere.)
I can say I love my animals about as much as I'd love my brother, so since you obviously have no pet nor have had one that you have ever given a flying **** about, maybe get a clue and imagine if your brother or sister was shot for no reason at all at point blank range with a shotgun by a clueless southerner?
And no, I think the people sending death threats are a little out of bounds. But I do believe this jack*** should be fined and fired.</strong><hr></blockquote>
You are free to believe what you want. You are also free to buy sweaters, puppy treats and whatever else you care to for your "brother."
I wouldn't imagine this cop shooting my brother because I am not unintelligent enough to equate them with an animal. Likewise I do not equate my brother with a cow, pig, fish, fowl, or any other animal. Likewise when people kill them, accidental or otherwise I don't feel the remorse that I would for a human.
Consider how twisted your reasoning is here. If an animal is within your understanding and concern, then suddenly we are to consider it like a sibling. If it isn't, well then oh well who cares. The only difference is whether you have "seen" it or not. Thank you oh wise elder for rendering your decision for us all to obey.
As for animals, I have owned many and I keep perspective. I have had dogs, cats and raised pigs. The pigs were killed yearly for meat. The cats lived with us for over a decade until one day they just decided to run off. The dogs, must seem to be wanderers and since I lived in a rural area when I was young they would get out and wander about. The one we had for about 8 years had to be put to sleep when her tail fell off due to someone putting a rubberband around it. (not our family) Our collie was hit by a car and I helped bury him.
The point to remember is that life while precious, always has a final outcome.
Comments
It really was a little puppy! <img src="graemlins/lol.gif" border="0" alt="[Laughing]" /> About the size of a large cat! Jeez, if the kids' bunny rabbit had hopped out of the car, wiggling its nose, these cops would have blown it away with a shotgun!
I feel that this policeman not only should lose his job but he should do jail time. Yes, you heard right! If this is the way he reacts to situations he's dangerous. I've had dogs all my life. They are about the best friend a family can have. The dog probably didn't know what was going on or what the officer was doing. When a family loses their pet in such a way it's a terrible emotional blow.
If it had been me I would have had a very hard time restraining my self from doing bodily harm to the officer. Shotgun or no shotgun. The fact of the matter is after something so unwarrented happens like that how can you be sure he's not going to do the same to you? Of course the family was already handcuffed which brings up another fact that this is all based on a mistake on the part of the police in the first place!
The last I heard he was given a desk job for the time being. I hope they sue the hell out of him and make the rest of his life miserable. A lesson to other policeman who think it's ok to react like that.
[ 01-10-2003: Message edited by: jimmac ]</p>
<strong>
The last I heard he was given a desk job for the time being. I hope they sue the hell out of him and make the rest of his life miserable. A lesson to other policeman who think it's ok to react like that.</strong><hr></blockquote>
It's S.O.P. for this department to put any officer on desk duty if they've been accused with a violent act. It's in no way a reprimand or permanent. The police culture in this country is very unhealthy. With high profile cases like these, the officer is usually reprimanded because there's too much negative PR. Unfortunately, more often than not the cases aren't this high profile.
it is a very sad and unfortunate situation, but the officer should not lose his job...
the procedures and regulations of the SPD should be re-evaluated however...
That poor family...
I'M KIDDING, okay?!?!
That is truly horrible (I don't want to watch the video...that kind of stuff bothers me).
But here's how I know the world is completely backwards: this incident - awful and horrible and cruel and sad as it is - seems to be getting more attention and press than when a person is killed.
I just did a quick spin through the various 24/7 newschannels, and within 10 minutes or so, I caught reports of this, replays of the video, an interview with the family, two lawyers duking it out verbally, etc.
Meanwhile, last night a woman and her boyfriend were arrested after their five-year-old son was found dead in their home. Neighbors never called the police, even though they'd both been beating on the kid for almost two days.
I heard this story mentioned ONCE on the local news last night. And not once today...
i almost feel sorry for the officer because he has kids and is getting alot of shit over this....but i wonder how he would feel if this happened to him with his daughters in the car and all that?? would he accept as punishment to have his family pulled over randomly one night and having the family pet shot in front of his kids???
g
Blast the dog right there in the kitchen. If anyone tries to get up, slap their ass back to the floor.
Sounds just sick doesn't it? Yeah, it is. Just imagine if you did it on the side of the road with people driving by and watching.... man, that would be even worse!
And whoever is saying "it's just a dog"... man, get real. Of course it's just a dog, and yes killing a person is TEN TIMES WORSE. But christ, being tied up and held down, watching your family pet ****ing gunned down beside your car?! That's messed up.
Guy needs to have some SERIOUS action taken against him.
[ 01-10-2003: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
Split second decision... this guy had about 10 seconds to look at the dog.
"Duh, I thought it was a full grown Pit Bull."
I'm surprised this genius didn't plug the kid it the head thinking he was a Rottweiler.
[ 01-10-2003: Message edited by: murbot ]</p>
My only thing was if there was this much passion and outrage everytime a teen kills another teen over something stupid, or a bullying husband kills his wife after years of abuse, etc. as there was over this incident, the world might be a slightly different place. A better place, even?
I think it's just human nature to feel this way about a cute animal getting hurt or killed. That's why people go bonkers over dolphins and seals getting killed...but tuna and warthogs? Screw 'em!
To paraphrase Jules, cuteness goes a long way.
I'm not sure what should happen to this cop. Since I won't watch the video, I can just go by accounts of how he acted and what the dog was doing.
But he sounds as though he may have been a TAD trigger happy.
Can the family get back in some way? Lawsuit and so forth? Would it hold up? What's the procedure for something like this?
<img src="confused.gif" border="0">
[ 01-10-2003: Message edited by: pscates ]</p>
pscates: One thing you should keep in mind is that there are scores of appalling animal torture and abuse cases every day which will never make front page news. We are quite well inured to both human and animal suffering in this, our best of all possible worlds. And, of course, this particular case transcends "mere" animal abuse, as the psychological trauma on the family must be factored in, as well.
(not to mention the literally millions of dogs and cats which must be destroyed every year because people are clearly too incompetent to be entrusted with the responsibility of properly breeding them. Imagine if millions of orphans were being euthanized every year because they didn't have homes!)
And, yes, that keynote rocked.
As somone else posted, I can also understand that many bad things happen to animals and people evey day. But that is no excuse for apathy.
I can understand that he is sorry, I can also understand that death threats to his family is most inappropriate. It has mortified a nation and made him a villian (like the Walmart child beater)
The police said they followed protocol and no blame is to be laid on the officer. The officer said he made a mistake though. Very odd...
I think the end result should be evaluated. An innocent family has been victimized, and thier property damaged (their dog).
I think the department and officer are both to blame. I also think the family has every right to sue the hell out of the police. I would also demand pain and suffering damages. I also think that the officer, although 'sorry', should quit the "don't judge me" appeal and start the grovelling. Fact remain's that some *ucked up stuff happened that night, and SOMEBODY is gonna burn for it (that's just the way the US media works). I think they have a pretty good patsy, and even if they are wrong in villifying him to the extent of death threats, I DO think the family has every right to sue him, and the department (which could include the dispatcher etc).
An important question is during the officers interview he only felt remorse AFTER he found out the family was innocent. I wonder if we would have heard of this horrible story had they been guilty...
PS: I don't have a dog, but man, after all this hub-ub, I sure can join the torch bearing people knocking on his door. We want a retribution, and buy God (and the constitution) I think we'll have it. My own qualm is keep it professional, and keep it in court. String him up in front of a dog loving jury and cook him. Then keep the department under constant review for about 5 years. Did they want all the publicity? Probably not. Did they get it? Sure, tons. Now they will have to pay for the tragic actions of the officer.
I don't know which to be more upset with. The 'gun happy' officer (which of course isn't true) or the *ucked up system which allowed such a felony stop to occur in the first place....
Just another couple cents in the debate.
I remember the quote from one of my favorite books "save the whales but shoot the people, right" regarding how callous someone will be to another who doesn't share their political views.
We euthanize probably 100,000 dogs or so a day because there is simply no way to deal with them all. While this situation was upsetting to this family, it isn't as if they weren't uncuffed allowed back in their car and are having this situation dealt with. I have no doubt that they will get a decent cash settlement that will buy them a house or two by just dinging the liability insurance for the police department.
These folks could have decided they didn't want the dog, taken it to the pound and had it put down and no one here would or could have done a d*mn thing about it.
If anything it will likely lead to problems of this sort because when a small mistake over an animal that might be meatloaf depending upon what country you were in gets you threats of physical violence, calls for destroying your entire career and of course a few death threats then who in their right mind would ever want to serve that sort of public.
Every year there are dozens of high profile examples where the suspects had questionable behavior (that is not the case here) and the cops get handed their heads over the entire incident. This in terms makes anybody with half a brain get the heck out of the job. Then people complain even more about the idiots we have left over.
So he had trouble telling if a dog that would have been put down within any pound in three days, was attacking or not.
Would you take the job for probably a massive 40k a year when you get comments like this over a dog?
[quote]i hope they throw the book at these assholes
the cops are basically the group of people who couldn't graduate high school--basically, the lowest of the low.
i would want somebodies job for it
For the most part I'd say the police culture is very unhealthy.
That cop should be fired immediately, there's no excuse for that behavior.
I feel that this policeman not only should lose his job but he should do jail time.
Blast the dog right there in the kitchen. If anyone tries to get up, slap their ass back to the floor<hr></blockquote>
Oh yeah sign me up for 40k a year to protect and serve you morons. You only want my entire life destroyed for a mistake and god help if there was actual justification. (There really wasn't in this case)
I know the mother-in-law of one of the guys in that Riverside shooting. You know the one where the girl had done so much drugs that she got a flat and passed out in her car, with a gun on her lap. She was totally non-responsive and because they tried to handle it and screwed it up, all their lives were ruined.
You Monday morning quarterbacks just kill me...
Nick
<strong>I remember the quote from one of my favorite books "save the whales but shoot the people, right" regarding how callous someone will be to another who doesn't share their political views.</strong><hr></blockquote>
This is a little different. Most of us actually have a dog, and to most of us, it's a part of the family. Much different from some animal we've never seen (i.e, whale out in the middle of the ocean somewhere.)
I can say I love my animals about as much as I'd love my brother, so since you obviously have no pet nor have had one that you have ever given a flying **** about, maybe get a clue and imagine if your brother or sister was shot for no reason at all at point blank range with a shotgun by a clueless southerner?
And no, I think the people sending death threats are a little out of bounds. But I do believe this jack*** should be fined and fired.
<strong>The police said they followed protocol and no blame is to be laid on the officer. The officer said he made a mistake though. Very odd...</strong><hr></blockquote>
Apparently, protocol is killing all defenseless puppies. Half for fun, half just to see their owners freak out.
<hr></blockquote>
you carry a gun, you shoot a gun, you kill someone or something...you pay the price....
whether you are a cop or a kid on the street or a man in your home...you know this, you understand this...he thinks he is justified and will get his say in interview and possibly court...the thing is NOBODY wants to be in the situation of that family...i don't, they don't, murbot doesn't and i am sure that officer doesn't want himself and his family in that situation...it is a nightmare situation...and it is ****ed up...and we have to find a way to stop things like that happening...
the cop thinks he did right...all i ask is this, would the cop want the same to happen to him and his?? do we send cops out barrels blazing for so little info?? is there any price to pay when we do??? and yes, thankfully we live in such a protected and wonderful society that a pets life counts this much...life is grand, and when a person dies in the projects, it is an awful thing, and when a dog is gunned down on the side of the road while it's owners are handcuffed and helpless, it is an awful thing...awful things happen everyday and everyplace...doesn't mean we have to accept and like them and say, "no big deal, life is shitty all over"...g
<strong>
You Monday morning quarterbacks just kill me... </strong><hr></blockquote>
If the family were to put the dog to sleep, it's their property and their choice sick or not. The police do not have the right to make that choice for me.
If I choose to burn my house down, that's my choice. If I choose to take my car to the junkyard and have it stripped for parts, that's my choice. The police do not have the right to make that choice for me.
The police culture in this country has become critically ill. This incident may or may not be indicative of that ill, but people have learned to be skeptical for a reason.
Tin soldiers and Nixon coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.
-Neil Young
<strong>
If I choose to burn my house down, that's my choice. If I choose to take my car to the junkyard and have it stripped for parts, that's my choice. The police do not have the right to make that choice for me.
</strong><hr></blockquote>
Your examples don't work because the fire department does not have to light a fire to do their work for the public. Likewise the junkyard owner does not serve the public and even if he did, it is not likely he could "accidentally" junk your car.
However as strange as those examples are let us go ahead and consider them for a moment.
What I pointed out is that killing a dog is not a capital offense. The family could choose to do it themselves and suffer no penalty. The fact that the cop did it likely means a nice claim again the liability insurance of the city as I mentioned before.
Suppose the fire department made a mistake and did actually burned down your house.
Would you consider it a civil matter or would you want the guy fired and jailed?
Likewise again consider if your car were somehow accidentally "junked," should that equal jail time? It is again a civil matter.
Lastly the police do use firearms in the execution of their job responsibilities. The firefighters do not have to bring fire to your house for their job nor does the junk man bring a scrapper.
All you have done is shown how you have a grudge against the police. You repeatedly state that they have an unhealthy culture, but you don't state how or what you would do to change it.
That is why I call you a Monday morning quarterback. Because of course you sitting in your office chair know more than someone laying it on the line night after night.
Nick
<strong>This is a little different. Most of us actually have a dog, and to most of us, it's a part of the family. Much different from some animal we've never seen (i.e, whale out in the middle of the ocean somewhere.)
I can say I love my animals about as much as I'd love my brother, so since you obviously have no pet nor have had one that you have ever given a flying **** about, maybe get a clue and imagine if your brother or sister was shot for no reason at all at point blank range with a shotgun by a clueless southerner?
And no, I think the people sending death threats are a little out of bounds. But I do believe this jack*** should be fined and fired.</strong><hr></blockquote>
You are free to believe what you want. You are also free to buy sweaters, puppy treats and whatever else you care to for your "brother."
I wouldn't imagine this cop shooting my brother because I am not unintelligent enough to equate them with an animal. Likewise I do not equate my brother with a cow, pig, fish, fowl, or any other animal. Likewise when people kill them, accidental or otherwise I don't feel the remorse that I would for a human.
Consider how twisted your reasoning is here. If an animal is within your understanding and concern, then suddenly we are to consider it like a sibling. If it isn't, well then oh well who cares. The only difference is whether you have "seen" it or not. Thank you oh wise elder for rendering your decision for us all to obey.
As for animals, I have owned many and I keep perspective. I have had dogs, cats and raised pigs. The pigs were killed yearly for meat. The cats lived with us for over a decade until one day they just decided to run off. The dogs, must seem to be wanderers and since I lived in a rural area when I was young they would get out and wander about. The one we had for about 8 years had to be put to sleep when her tail fell off due to someone putting a rubberband around it. (not our family) Our collie was hit by a car and I helped bury him.
The point to remember is that life while precious, always has a final outcome.
Nick