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Joseph Pettaway, 51 Mauled by Police Dog: Alabama city says releasing this bloody secret video may cause riots

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Has anyone else heard of this case? Wow

Wonder what caused the dog to attack this man like that?

Alabama city says releasing this bloody secret video may cause riots

Published July 26, 2022

Just hours before his nightmarish death, Joseph Pettaway enjoyed a joyful backyard barbecue celebrating his good work on his buddy’s cute but dilapidated pink house in Montgomery, Alabama. Cresta Circle was a poor but friendly neighborhood and the little home’s tall windows, wooden shutters and shade trees gave the house charm. Pettaway’s friend, James Jones, paid Pettaway to add sheetrock, paint and clear debris so that Jones could move his girlfriend and baby girl into the home. That July Saturday, Jones and his sweetheart grilled venison sausage and hosted a feast at the pink house for Pettaway, a coworker and some neighbors.

Pettaway, 51, grew up in a big, close-knit Black family. He lived with his mom just three blocks from Cresta and was popular in the neighborhood.

But on July 8, 2018, the unarmed Pettaway was mauled horrifically by a police dog inside the pink house. The dog ripped open Pettaway’s femoral artery. An autopsy photo shows a gaping thigh wound two and a half inches long and so deep, with bone visible.

In depositions, police officers near the attack agree that Pettaway did not break any law, didn’t resist arrest and didn’t argue with police.

Alabama city says releasing this bloody secret video may cause riots

Just hours before his nightmarish death, Joseph Pettaway enjoyed a joyful backyard barbecue celebrating his good work on his buddy’s cute but dilapidated pink house in Montgomery, Alabama. Cresta Circle was a poor but friendly neighborhood and the little home’s tall windows, wooden shutters and...
www.rawstory.com
 
Older article


Judge won’t release bodycam of deadly police dog attack in Alabama
Updated: May. 19, 2022, 2:57 p.m.|Published: May. 19, 2022, 2:47 p.m.

A federal judge today denied a request to release body camera footage of a Montgomery police dog biting and killing Joseph Pettaway — but she did not rule out making the footage public later.

Chief U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks denied a motion filed by attorneys for Pettaway’s family, which asked her to remove the confidentiality designation from the videos.

Pettaway, a 51-year-old Black man, bled to death after a police dog bit his thigh and tore his femoral artery inside a mostly empty house in Montgomery in 2018. Police said they got a call about a possible burglary, although Pettaway’s family says he had been helping fix up the small home and sometimes slept there.

Pettaway’s family is suing the city and several police officers, including the K-9 handler, Nicholas Barber, alleging excessive force, wrongful death and failure to provide medical aid. The family says they want the public to see the videos showing what happened when the city police dog named Niko fatally bit Pettaway.

Judge won’t release bodycam of deadly police dog attack in Alabama

The federal judge also did not rule out releasing the footage later. The bodycam recorded a Montgomery police dog biting and killing Joseph Pettaway in 2018.
www.al.com
 
Could ‘Jeopardize Police Safety’: Alabama Judge Blocks Release of Video Showing Police K-9 Mauling a 51-Year-Old to Death After a False Burglary Call

June 3, 2022

A federal judge in Alabama denied a family’s motion to have footage released showing a police dog mauling their loved one until he died from those injuries. The officer believes making the footage public could “jeopardize police safety” and prompt “civil unrest.”

On Wednesday, May 18, Chief U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks denied Joseph Pettaway’s family a motion asking her to remove the confidentiality designation from police bodycam videos of the deceased being bitten to death by a Montgomery Police Department canine.

While the family and their attorney believe releasing the footage will promote transparency surrounding the four-year-old case, the judge is standing with the city’s lawyers, who claim releasing the video will cause chaos.

Atlanta Black Star obtained the civil lawsuit filed by the Pettaway family in 2019 against the city and the police department for violating Pettaway’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

The claim alleges on Sunday, July 8, 2018, police engaged in excessive force when they allowed Niko, a dog on the force, to sink his teeth so deeply into the thigh of the man (even before verifying if he was a criminal) causing his wrongful death.

Could ‘Jeopardize Police Safety’: Alabama Judge Blocks Release of Video Showing Police K-9 Mauling a 51-Year-Old to Death After a False Burglary Call

A federal judge in Alabama denied a family’s motion to have footage released showing a police dog mauling their loved one until he died from those
atlantablackstar.com
 
Release the damn footage! Live with the consequences, that poor man and his family have too.
 
tacomancer said:
gruesome
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Agree. Surprised this hasn't gotten more attention especially because it appears the victim cooperated with the police or maybe that is why since the media seems to only cover police victims who don't commit crimes or resist arrest

I presume dogs take commands from the owner?
 
Bite first, ask questions later.

It's a handler problem, not the dog.

Edit: I just got confirmation of my supposition: Joseph Pettaway death: Rare in U.S. for police dogs to kill (Montgomery Advertiser) "Joseph Pettaway died on July 8 after a MPD handler released their dog into a Cresta Circle home." What kind of bullshit procedure is that?
 
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Credence said:
I am confused. This article is dated July 31, 2018
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Yes, the incident happened in 2018. The lawsuit was filed in 2019. It's taken this long for it to get to the judge. From your OP "the family and their attorney believe releasing the footage will promote transparency surrounding the four-year-old case"
 
Montgomery Alabama... that alone tells you both why it happened and why there was such a fight to prevent releasing the bodycams of these officers.

Joseph was black, that is all the police there needed. No crime, no resistance, killed by a K9, officers joked, ignored his last moments alive, and took picks of the dead body.

Pathetic racist bastards.
 
Weird how the cops suddenly had a problem with shooting a dog when that dog was murdering a black man.

Also, I don’t understand why releasing the video would cause riots. It would only cause riots if the officers responsible were not charged.

But surely, the “good cops” in the department wouldn’t have any problem arresting the “bad cops” that did this, correct?
 
It's because the video would demonstrate the depravity of the department.
 
From the trainer. Police dogs are owned by the police force, I believe.

I wonder what they did w/ the dog? Euthanasia, I hope and as a dog lover, I don't say that lightly. It can not be trusted again. While it's handler gave the order to find and bite, it would not let go when commanded to.
 
The handler was absolutely wrong but the dog wouldn't let go when he (the handler) ordered him to.
 
Do we need police dogs that are trained to attack people?
 
Questerr said:
Weird how the cops suddenly had a problem with shooting a dog when that dog was murdering a black man.
Click to expand...
Dogs can't murder. Murder is a crime committed by a human being against a human being.

But yeah, you have a good point.
 
Scrabaholic said:
The handler was absolutely wrong but the dog wouldn't let go when he (the handler) ordered him to.
Click to expand...
You know this how? I've not read that anywhere. I'm interested in the source. That could explain why the video would be "explosive".
 
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