Officer shoots restrained pit bull and gets charged

[Tank_N_Moose]

The original story is here :Video of pit bull shooting draws wrath

The dog was staying with a sitter, and escaped the garage. Neighbor called the cops and AC for a strange dog. AC restrained the dog only for the officer to shoot it five times while on the catch pole. He also managed to his his own car with a stray bullet.

Commerce City officer faces felony charge for shooting dog - The Denver Post

The city isn't taking too lightly to the officers actions which were caught on tape and he is now facing charges. Hopefully this is a big step in stopping animal cruelty.

[wink-_-wink]

you know the sad thing is that had this not been caught on tape and trended on social media, this cop would have gotten away with it. This really pisses me off because it gives LEO's a bad name! This also bothers me. If a person is restrained via handcuffs, then you as a LEO are not authorized ANY force against them. In this mean taser, or OC spray. There are other way to handle stuff. This should be no different. The AC officer had the dog on the pole making him restrained. NO force should have been used, let alone the taser AND 5 shots.... And they said it was for the safety of the community and officers on scene yet they questions 15 witnesses who could have all been hit by that bullet ricochet! Thanks for sharing, I hope justice is served!

[llombardo]

This...I'm happy to read Maybe it will take only one officer losing their job to prevent other stuff like this. I believe the animal control person was horrified at what the officer did and played a part in letting officials know this.

[Mrs.K]

Good! Let that be a lesson for any trigger happy cop that shoots first and thinks later.

@llombardo, you could clearly see that the AC Officer was upset. However, I am not sure if the Officer would have been charged had there not been proof in form of a video. They were so quick in releasing a statement that the Officer acted out of fear, I doubt anything had been done at all.
Makes you wonder how many dogs have unecessarily been shot in the name of "I feared for my life and the safety of our community."

[Questforfire]

Difficult video to watch The PB is clearly restrained, there was no need whatsoever for the officer to shoot that dog. If it were my dog, I would be completely furious.

[llombardo]

Originally Posted by Mrs.K

Makes you wonder how many dogs have unecessarily been shot in the name of "I feared for my life and the safety of our community."

Probably way more then you or I would care to hear about

[DharmasMom]

Good. He needs to be charged.

[APBTLove]

It makes so sick. Perhaps if they hadn't tortured the dog with tasers and then not even been able to deliver a kill shot I wouldn't be QUITE so outraged. But they did, even after hurting her like they did she did not try to attack them, and then to be slaughtered so inhumanely while restrained - WHAT kind of mental state are those officers in?? How could they do that?


Reminds me of this one! It looks like a clean shot at first, too, but then yo use her submissively wagging her tail and they shoot again. While completely restrained.

Cop Shoots Restrained Dog In The Head - YouTube

Cop Shoots Restrained Dog In The Head - YouTube

[Mr & Mrs Kirkley]

In reference to the second video: What a heartbreaking video. The only shot I approve of is the second one to put the still alive dog out of its misery. I hope he got the max.

[APBTLove]

What I don't understand is WHY we don't have our police officers armed and trained to handle animals and made to go through courses on body language and safely handling a dog without just slaughtering it - that is someone's family member.

It should just be part of their training - they are bound to run in to dogs in their line of work, the first reaction shouldn't be to hurt and shoot it.