There's always that one dumb ass...

[WyomingOSUAlum]

...that makes everybody else look bad. Here's an example.

We started getting hateful phone calls from people and we had no idea what they were talking about, which made them even more upset with us. Anyway, turns out that this happened next door in Teton County, IDAHO.

I can't believe the dog is still alive. The injuries are pretty severe. You can decide to NOT click on the link and that's OK. (I almost decided against posting this here, but since it was aired on local TV, I decided to go ahead).


http://www.kidk.com/news/11676076.html

[CowboyJD]

Wow. That guy is scum. Both from a personal, moral viewpoint and from a legal viewpoint. He has no right to do that without due process.

I've been accused by some of defending all police actions, no matter what. That isn't true, but if it had been, it would end right now. It's one thing to make a mistake and shoot a dog because you might have though he was an immediate threat during a split second decision. It's quite another to drag it out of a family's home and put him down.

[WyomingOSUAlum]

Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm willing to give most anybody the benefit of the doubt until I have reason to believe differently. Sometimes, though, there seems to be NO DOUBT!

If you click on the updates to the story, you will see that the family has filed a $250,000 suit against the county. Also, they had several prior complaints that the dog was running down the mentally challeneged girl next door. So I'm sure there was a problem with that dog. I'm equally sure that the solution which that rookie chose was not the proper one!

That guy's career is over pretty much before it really got started.

[barryrules]

I should have known better than to have read that, I am now sick to my stomach. If that was my dog I'd be very tempted to tie the deputy up and shoot him. If the dog was dangerous and needs to be put down you take him to a vet/animal shelter and let them do it humanely.

[jakeman]

That's one tough pooch.

[WyomingOSUAlum]

I should have known better than to have read that, I am now sick to my stomach. If that was my dog I'd be very tempted to tie the deputy up and shoot him. If the dog was dangerous and needs to be put down you take him to a vet/animal shelter and let them do it humanely.



Yes. See how easy it is to arrive at the right decision (minus the shooting of the deputy, of course!).

Now, you never know what happened internally within the organization. Maybe the captain told that rookie "We're tired of getting complaints on that dog. Get over there and shoot him."

But that still doesn't erase the fact that SOMEBODY within that organization made a stupid decision. Also, some orders are just too stupid to follow.

I think the $250,000 damages are the cap in state civil litigation. Seems to me that this case is a slam dunk. Now there are only two things left to see:

1. How quickly somebody gets fired

2. How quickly the county settles this out of court.

I wonder what the final amount of damages is going to be. What do you guys think? Would you settle for, say, half of that amount? Or would you see it through to the very end if the county contests this?

[panhandler62]

That's just wierd (on top of repulsive.)

Since when does an officer put a dog down "on demand" like that? I have certainly heard of officers needing to shoot a dog presenting a clear and active danger and you may well have to bring your dog in to have it euthanized if credible complaints exist but to just haul the animal out off the family home, shoot it in the front ard and then drive off??

I've never heard of such a thing.

[PokesFanatic]

If this isn't an argument for public flogging (after due process, of course), I don't know what is.

I've run into high and mighty cop types on and off all my life. Needless to say I keep my mouth shut and just try to stay on their good side in the rare occasion I've drawn attention to myself.

It can never be reiterated strongly enough how important it is for any person to know his or her rights and keep note of the pertinent details in the event you have to put one of these high and mighty, bantam rooster cops in his place.

[WyomingOSUAlum]

That's just wierd (on top of repulsive.)

Since when does an officer put a dog down "on demand" like that? I have certainly heard of officers needing to shoot a dog presenting a clear and active danger and you may well have to bring your dog in to have it euthanized if credible complaints exist but to just haul the animal out off the family home, shoot it in the front ard and then drive off??

I've never heard of such a thing.




I've never heard of such a thing, either. I guess that's what makes it newsworthy.

[panhandler62]

(dragging out soapbox) .....

Crazy as this incedent is; I find it extreamly atypical. I would think that turning against cops because of this would be like sending hate mail to your letter carrier because of a couple notorious shootings in post offices in the past.

I have only ever had one bad experiance with a cop in my life -- and he was just rude.. never over the line.

In comparison to that; I owe my life a couple times over to the timely actions of law enforcement officers and have frequently observed them going way beyond their job requirements to help the community.

I think it's easy to buy into the idea that cops are the "enemy" because none of us like to get bossed around and it's much easier to blame the person giving the command for being bossy than it is to admit that we are out of line and need to be bossed.

[jac1599]

What gets me is that they left the dog in the yard for a few days? It doesn't say that they took it to the vet immediately...it says after a few days they realized the dog was alive. And why don't they ever mention the dog's name, it is only referred to as "the dog". Not saying what the cop did was right, just some strange things I found in the article.