Cop goes to wrong house, shoots owners dog.

[zefiris]

Cops can't do anything without everyone shouting "CORRUPTION" at the top of their lungs.

I'm certainly not going to say they're infallible, but the reason they quote-unquote "get away" with the things they do is often because they're completely justified.

This has been proven wrong two postings above yours.Police corruption is shouted so often because, quite simply, it's happening so often. The facts are pretty damning.

but this is hardly a massive case of Police stupidity

Barging into a house, gun drawn, in situations like this is always police stupidity. This is why he should be fired: The next time, he might open fire on a human. A gung-ho cop like this should not be allowed to remain in his position (which he is likely to abuse).


I think it is hilarious that the same people that would demand a shopping clerk that disrespected them to be fired are standing so stauntly behind a cop that made two gross mistakes, each of which should get him fired.

 

[shintakie10]

1. Cop gets information about where he needs to go
2. Cop goes into wrong house DESPITE HAVING THE INFORMATION (seriously it's not like he was picking a house at random) and barges in
2a. The cop has his gun already drawn as he goes in
3. dog barks at the cop, the owner tells the cop the dog won't hurt him but can't get the dog back because the cop is pointing his gun at the dog
4. the cop shoots the dog who WASN'T attacking him (the guy had time to explain that the dog wasn't going to hurt the cop...)

Cop fucked up bad by going into the wrong property, and that mistake should cost him for sure.

However, having his gun drawn when called to a "disturbance", which I will assume to be a "domestic disturbance", could easily be normal practice in Austin, Texas. Keep in mind that, as far as I understand it, Texas has some of the most lax firearm laws in the US.
And of course we don't know how the call was described to him, whether someone said they saw a gun, or heard a firearm discharge.

Hell, I could call the cops right now and tell them that I saw my neighbor with an assault rifle, and they'd be coming in with the guns drawn, and I live in über-peaceful Denmark, in a quiet neighborhood.

Until the investigators arrive and make their judgement, what the caller said happened is effectively what happened as far as the police are concerned.

As for the dog getting shot despite the owner trying to reassure the cop that it wouldn't attack, well, if the cop thought he was in the right place, then why the heck would he take the owners word for it?
And there's no video of the dog, only sound.


Bottom line, the cop fucked up bad by going to the wrong place, but otherwise he acted just like any cop would, and should.

He should be facing some sort of disciplinary action, and he should be checked for literacy and be given map-reading instructions or something, but otherwise he did his job.

Police procedure back where I lived in California for a domestic dispute was always diplomacy first and to never go in without a partner. I'm hopin that the procedures in Austin are the same, but I could be wrong.

Unless the officer is respondin to a call about shots fired or one of the parties havin a weapon, weapon drawn before you even get into the house is a horrible breach of procedure. Even if he had got the right house, what exactly was he plannin to do with that gun? He was alone, respondin to a domestic disturbance call without anyone (as far I've read anyway) sayin there were weapons involved, and he came in without cause or warnin with his weapon ready. Was he really expectin to defuse a situation by pointin a gun at someone?

Wait...Texas. Maybe that was his plan all along.

 

[CCountZero]

SNIP

The thing is: The cop did not go to the wrong adress by his mistake, he got the wrong adress from whoever reported it.

Also, from what you hear on the news report (and the tape) the owner started yelling AFTER the dog did something to make the officer shoot / the officer shot the dog. I get the strong vibe that lots of people are just nagging on the officer because of the sake of it.

Seems to me the hat who called it in is to blame, then.

On the dog issue, I heard the owner try to tell the officer that the dog wouldn't attack, but the officer discharged his firearm right after. Less than five seconds after, right after.

But yeah, if the Officer went to the address that he was given, then he is in the clear far as I'm concerned.

 

[CCountZero]

Snip

Police procedure back where I lived in California for a domestic dispute was always diplomacy first and to never go in without a partner. I'm hopin that the procedures in Austin are the same, but I could be wrong.

Unless the officer is respondin to a call about shots fired or one of the parties havin a weapon, weapon drawn before you even get into the house is a horrible breach of procedure. Even if he had got the right house, what exactly was he plannin to do with that gun? He was alone, respondin to a domestic disturbance call without anyone (as far I've read anyway) sayin there were weapons involved, and he came in without cause or warnin with his weapon ready. Was he really expectin to defuse a situation by pointin a gun at someone?

Wait...Texas. Maybe that was his plan all along.

Well, as I said, none of us know what the call-in said about the situation, and for the sake of argument, again it being Texas, the caller could easily have described a situation involving a firearm.

Now, in Denmark, if there's a suspicion that a firearm is in the mix, the police go in with their guns holstered, by unhooked and they'll have their right hand on the weapon ready to draw.

Now, if I take into consideration that this is the US, and then that it's Texas, I can only surmise that the chance of the suspicion being correct just went up twenty-fold, if not more.

So then the police readiness goes up twenty-fold as well, which means he could easily be in the Weaver-stance and ready to fire soon as he approaches, and far as I could tell, he wasn't going that far.

The gun isn't there to defuse the situation, it's there for his protection. He's not gonna help the situation by pointing a gun at them, hell, that's probably only gonna make things worse.
But you try telling an officer to go into a place where a couple of potentially armed, agitated and angry people are arguing or whatnot, without backing him up with a firearm of his own, and the training to use it with deadly intent?

That just won't fly.

There's a reason police often use hollow-point or frangible ammunition for their sidearms. When they shoot, it's usually at closer than 5 meters distance.

Even if he shoots first, he could easily be shot back at, and at 5 meters he's gonna be hit.
For that reason, police shoot to kill.

 

[Jowe]

This is why the police shouldn't and don't need to have guns, I know people will say that its fine if everyone has guns, but wouldn't it be better if no-one has them? The statistics are against you america, you have the most gun crime and most high school shootings per capita etc. Just outright ban the things.

I'm glad I live in the UK.

 

[El Luck]

This is why I think that learning about the way dogs act should be part of police training.

Mistakes happen but still, a little bit of knowledge could have changed the outcome without a dog being shot.

Anyone know if the officer apologised to the guy who's dog he shot?

 

[Ickorus]

Deadly force is supposed to be the last resort which leads me to question why he was drawing his gun before even seeing the guy.

 

[JoJo]

The only thing you can blame this officer for is entering the wrong house. Otherwise he did what any officer would do in that situation, even if it was the right house. Why can't people accept the fact that even police officers make mistakes?

I agree, I'd be angry if it was a human but come on a dog? I don't see anyone complaining about the pig I going to eat for lunch today, maybe the policeman should pay for the cost of the dog so the owner can buy a new one but other than that it's not really newsworthy. The policeman had the right to defend himself.

 

[Coldster]

I watched the video in the link. I was going to say that he was probably just making sure there were less risks, but man, that police officer shot WAY too quickly! Like, he gave it about two seconds. TWO FUCKING SECONDS! Jeez man don't you know that dogs bark at you when you walk into a house pretty much all the time? I don't think the officer should be fired, but maybe fined or something. Oh, and a refresher in common sense too.

 

[Whytewulf]

Sad that the dog died.

Why is every cop story in the US bate for people to jump on US police officers or the US for violence. Withe the tens of thousand responses every day, "mistakes" happen, criminal acts happen, great things happen, but mostly mundane things happen. The sad part is every single one of those has to be treated the same way, because any situation can turn bad. Spend some time on google and you can see anyone of those things, pulling over Batman helping children, crazy grandma pulling a gun on an officer, officer beating helpless man.

For those that don't know police protocal, and I am no expert, but domestic violence is a violent crime and an officer has to expect violence, he could have a gun, killed her, etc. So going in with his gun drawn is not an issue. He told the guy to raise his hands. A large dog potentially went after him. You have a split second to assess the situation, potential violent criminal who may have beat up someone and potential violent dog guarding him coming after you. Do you lay your gun down, and pet the the puppy hoping to calm him? Not many options in this case. Dogs don't stop when they see a gun like humans, it's a deterant to humans. Pets will still attack. If Dog attacks, all Hell could break lose, sadly for his safety and the safety of the victim (which again, he still thinks there is one), he has to shoot the dog. If he goes down... Lastly, officers respond to calls withouth back up often. Depends on the situation, timing, size of force, etc.

Outcome - do a review of procedures, see if there is anyway to improve the process. As any shots fired, the officer if probably on paid leave. Police Force should compensate the man for pain and suffering, but not extreme. I would sue the actual person who was committing domestic violence. This doesn't happen if there is no call, in which no crime was occuring.

I would say that going in gun drawn is entirely the issue (despite the misleading thread title). Could he not have knocked first? Explained to the residents that there has been a report of domestic abuse and that he needs to follow up? My apologies, I don't know a great deal about police procedure but going into a house gun drawn and screaming at the residents really doesn't seem like it would be department policy.

Going in gun first should not be the primary response to every situation.

It's all about the assessed threat level. If it's a speeding ticket, they don't advance gun drawn, if it's suspected felons in a car, they do arrive gun drawn and make the passangers get out of the car hands raised. This was probably borderline, but anytime you enter an unknown house, and there is a suspected victim, you don't know how dangerous the person is, many abusers have weapons, so if knock, it allows them to prepare, get their gun, etc. So an element of suprise can help the officer. Still sucks, but I look at it this way. If it was the right house, non-story, which isn't the officer's fault. JUst a series of unfortunate events.

 

[rapidoud]

Further details (and text article, and what appears to be an unedited dashcam video): http://kutnews.org/post/details-emerge-police-shooting-cisco-pet-dog?nopop=1

Okay so, first thing the cop does is order the man to put his hands up. What caused him to issue this order? Did Paxton appear to be a threat?

Then, in conflict with his first order, he tells the man "get your dog." However, he shoots the dog less than a second afterward, right after saying "dog."

Did he not see the dog at first? This would explain the conflicting orders. The dog must've been rushing toward the officer, otherwise there would've been more time between the order to restrain the mutt and the shooting.

Now put yourself into the officer's shoes: you're confronting a man you don't know, and a dog you don't know, and the dog is rushing toward you. The man, for all you know, just finished beating up his girlfriend. The dog, you know nothing about, it could even be a fighting dog. The dog is barking and running full tilt at you. You have half a second to react.

Even if the dog is friendly, if he jumps on you that's going to be distracting, may even cause you accidentally fire your weapon if you have it drawn (and watching the video further, he did already had it drawn), and would also provide an opening for the man to either escape or attack you. And if the dog isn't friendly, well...

It's tragic, to be sure, but I'm not really sure I can blame the officer.

That's seriously screwd up if that's how American police officers think, and I shudder the thought of ever going there.

There is no excuse for this, whatsoever. Why do you draw your firearm ever in someone's house unless someone is in a very real danger of death? A dog rushing at you isn't imminent danger, you WILL be able to get it off you (with the owner helping you), but just shooting it like that? I question anyone's sanity who thinks this was the sane thing to do.

I can imagine the owner getting at least $200k out of the court case, as I'd be too scared to go near police for the rest of my life.

 

[WaysideMaze]

I agree, I'd be angry if it was a human but come on a dog? I don't see anyone complaining about the pig I going to eat for lunch today, maybe the policeman should pay for the cost of the dog so the owner can buy a new one but other than that it's not really newsworthy. The policeman had the right to defend himself.

Where you emotionally attached to the pig you ate for lunch?
Did a stranger arrive at your house, scream at you and then shoot the pig that you were emotionally attached to? Yeah, not exactly the same come to think about it.

Regarding the part I've bolded; fucking hell dude, it's not like the officer just accidentally knocked over a TV. This guy lives alone with his dog, people get emotionally attached to their pets, and here, some guy just wanders into his house, screams at him and shoots his dog. Fuck dude, thats some pretty scary shit right there. The police department owe him a lot more than just a new dog.

 

[WaysideMaze]

It's all about the assessed threat level. If it's a speeding ticket, they don't advance gun drawn, if it's suspected felons in a car, they do arrive gun drawn and make the passangers get out of the car hands raised. This was probably borderline, but anytime you enter an unknown house, and there is a suspected victim, you don't know how dangerous the person is, many abusers have weapons, so if knock, it allows them to prepare, get their gun, etc. So an element of suprise can help the officer. Still sucks, but I look at it this way. If it was the right house, non-story, which isn't the officer's fault. JUst a series of unfortunate events.

OK, I can concede that perhaps the officer felt the need to have his gun ready. Like you say, unknown situation, and I wouldn't want to read about a police officer being shot whilst attending to a domestic.
But I still feel he could have handled the situation better. Did he really need to approach the man in such an aggressive manner? Surely he could have calmly asked him to raise his hands? After all, he still had his weapon ready, and would have been able to get the drop on him if he had reached for something.
Dogs are highly territorial, and to have a stranger, screaming at his master probably set the dog off. Had the officer approached this more professionally then perhaps the dog would still be alive.

 

[Meight08]

...except that it was the wrong house

This part is irrelevant.

In addition, the owner has little to no time for reaction once he sees the officer and the officer trying to blame him for the dog being shot is reprehensible.

I don't think he's really trying to blame the owner. You've never said anything like that after you've done something that went bad? Notice how he didn't voice any of his complaints to the other officers or his supe.

It is actually very relevant that he went to the wrong house, it is perhaps the biggest reason that the dog is dead right now.

I'm not saying that all cops are bad or that he intended the dog to die, but his negligence in responding to a call about a disturbance does require some form of penalization.

He should not have had his weapon drawn on someone who is unarmed and walking out of a different house than the one he received the call for and even accidents have consequences, I know because when I've done something bad by accident I still end up in trouble.

The guy who called the cops gave the wrong address the cop couldn't have know it was the wrong house

 

[DugMachine]

I don't like the people saying "just give him some money to buy a new dog." I don't know his relationship to the animal but i'd be devastated. Now that being said, the officer made a mistake and shouldn't be punished for it. He did make the mistake of entering the wrong house but if I was in his position and a dog was acting aggresive towards me i'd probably shoot it too.

 

[Meight08]

Oh my god a human being made a mistake, you are kidding me. Yeah I thought the rest of us are perfect. That is the final straw, time to make a "lets kill all cops thread." May your torches burn bright and your pitchforks pointy, it's cop killing time. Everyone on this planet signed a pact to be perfect, I won't stand a glitch in the system. Almost can't type right now because my perfect world is falling apart. Lets put the joking aside and say he made a mistake, will probably feel bad for a long time.

Yeah he's fine, the other day when I was mowing the lawn, I finished mowing only to find that not only was I in the wrong lawn, but I had mowed over my neighbour's prize roses. It was only a mistake though, we're all human and we all make mistakes. I mean how was I supposed to know that I was in the wrong lawn? and how was I supposed to NOT shred those prize roses to pieces as my neighbour was shouting some garble about the roses being dethorned and carefully looked after?

but seriously you sound so stupid just saying it was a mistake.. Let's look at the facts shall we?

1. Cop gets information about where he needs to go
2. Cop goes into wrong house DESPITE HAVING THE INFORMATION (seriously it's not like he was picking a house at random) and barges in
2a. The cop has his gun already drawn as he goes in
3. dog barks at the cop, the owner tells the cop the dog won't hurt him but can't get the dog back because the cop is pointing his gun at the dog
4. the cop shoots the dog who WASN'T attacking him (the guy had time to explain that the dog wasn't going to hurt the cop...)

The guy who called 911 gave the cops the wrong adress.

 

[Robert Ewing]

Wow, that's a royal fuck up. -4 public relations toward police.

 

[spartan231490]

...

The cop should lose his god damn job, and be responsible for replacing the dog(as much as can be).

actually the radio dispather should be, since they ballsed up the operation with the wrong address. maybe if they were competent none of this would have happened.
snip

I don't give a good god damn if the dispatcher gave him the wrong address, this kind of behavior wouldn't have been any more acceptable in the house of the criminal. You don't hold an unarmed man at gunpoint in his own house. he wasn't resisting arrest, he wasn't armed, he was trying to calm his dog down, the dog was understandably upset because some stranger had barged into it's master's house and attacked it's master.

 

[JoJo]

I agree, I'd be angry if it was a human but come on a dog? I don't see anyone complaining about the pig I going to eat for lunch today, maybe the policeman should pay for the cost of the dog so the owner can buy a new one but other than that it's not really newsworthy. The policeman had the right to defend himself.

Where you emotionally attached to the pig you ate for lunch?
Did a stranger arrive at your house, scream at you and then shoot the pig that you were emotionally attached to? Yeah, not exactly the same come to think about it.

Regarding the part I've bolded; fucking hell dude, it's not like the officer just accidentally knocked over a TV. This guy lives alone with his dog, people get emotionally attached to their pets, and here, some guy just wanders into his house, screams at him and shoots his dog. Fuck dude, thats some pretty scary shit right there. The police department owe him a lot more than just a new dog.

Sure, it must have been a pretty shitty experience but searches of innocent people's houses happens all the time, it's not ideal that their property sometimes get's damaged like in this case but if we gave out compensation and punishments every time for police officers doing their duty, well we wouldn't have much money or police left! For all the policeman knew that dog could have mauled him, now we know better but I would have done the same in his situation, better for many dogs to die than for one police officer to give benefit of the doubt and end up with his face chewed off. I'm being pretty generous to be honest with my suggestion of some compensation, heck maybe the owner could buy a younger and/or better dog than he owned previously and so benefit.

 

[spartan231490]

I'd just say "lol, what a Muppet" but then I'd get done for a low content post.

I guess I'll add that he should face disciplinary action. Perhaps a written warning (or yank equivalent) and apologise to the owner?

I'm sure he'll feel much better about being held at gunpoint in his own home and having his dog shot after he gets an apology.

The cop should lose his god damn job, and be responsible for replacing the dog(as much as can be).

Really? I mean to say; training police officers is expensive and this was a man who made an honest mistake that any of us could have made.

He goes to a house where there is a domestic dispute, a violent and potentially lethal situation, and he gets rushed by a dog. How are we to know the dog only wanted to say "Hello? Hello, I love you!"?

All the poor dude sees is dog charging at him. Saliva flecking off its jaws, eyes burning like the fires of hades and then it leaps at him. All the while a woman is screaming, children are screaming.

I think in that situation you or I would have done the same thing.

The family will get compensation anyway. They will be able to buy 10 dogs with that money.

I 100% guarentee I would not have, because I'm not retarded. There was no screaming, it was the wrong fucking house, the man was out in his yard playing frisbee with a dog, and the officer drew his weapon. That's against protocol, on a domestic disturbance call you don't go in with your gun drawn.

Further, this wasn't some 80 pound German Shepard. It was a blue heeler, they don't get much over 35 pounds and pose no serious danger to a person. Sure, you might have some teeth marks, but your life, hell your health isn't even in danger, and you have no need to shoot the poor thing.

Also, the "suspect"(sarcastic air quotes) was cooperating, hands on his head, and had told the officer the dog wouldn't bite. This was a massive breach of protocol and common sense that resulted in a man losing his 7 year old dog, this officer should not keep his job. I think he should be charged criminally but I know that will never happen.

This is why I think that learning about the way dogs act should be part of police training.

Mistakes happen but still, a little bit of knowledge could have changed the outcome without a dog being shot.

Anyone know if the officer apologised to the guy who's dog he shot?

From what I've found no, he did not, but the police chief of the department did. Like an apology is really going to make him feel so much better. Knowing that, through no fault of his own, some jack-fuck police officer could go to the wrong house, hold him at gunpoint, shoot his dog, and get off after writing an apology like it's god-damn kindergarten.



From reading the responses on this thread, I can tell that the vast majority of you have never owned a dog, and don't understand how important they are to the owner. Further, it's obvious that a great many of you didn't even read up on what happened.