• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Police officer shoots at family dog in living room and hits 9 year old girl.

Moderate71

Banned
Joined
Oct 9, 2018
Messages
333
Reaction score
36
Political Leaning
Moderate
A police officer entered the living room of a family's home when a group of police were responding to a domestic dispute. The family dog, a small terrier, slipped out of someone's grip (it was surrounded by the family's 3 children) and started yapping very aggressively at the police officer. He drew his gun and discharged several rounds in the general direction of the dog. He missed the dog and one of the bullets ricocheted off the concrete and lodged into the forehead of one the surrounding children, a 9 year old girl who was standing directly behind the dog. Fragments also lodged in her eye and she ran from the room screaming. The police have declined to press charges against the girl. The police officer who discharged the firearm has been fired.

 
A police officer entered the living room of a family's home when a group of police were responding to a domestic dispute. The family dog, a small terrier, slipped out of someone's grip (it was surrounded by the family's 3 children) and started yapping very aggressively at the police officer. He drew his gun and discharged several rounds in the general direction of the dog. He missed the dog and one of the bullets ricocheted off the concrete and lodged into the forehead of one the surrounding children, a 9 year old girl who was standing directly behind the dog. Fragments also lodged in her eye and she ran from the room screaming. The police have declined to press charges against the girl. The police officer who discharged the firearm has been fired.



Oh god...where to start...

The police have declined to press charges against the girl.

Well that's good, considering that she did absolutely nothing wrong!

And what is it with some police officers' inability to deal with barking dogs? That's just what they do when they see strangers. That's just their instinct. Barking or "acting aggressive" should NEVER be an excuse for an officer to attempt to kill a dog. Especially considering what police dogs are allowed to do to civilians.
 
Cop was scared of a small terrier?
 
A police officer entered the living room of a family's home when a group of police were responding to a domestic dispute. The family dog, a small terrier, slipped out of someone's grip (it was surrounded by the family's 3 children) and started yapping very aggressively at the police officer. He drew his gun and discharged several rounds in the general direction of the dog. He missed the dog and one of the bullets ricocheted off the concrete and lodged into the forehead of one the surrounding children, a 9 year old girl who was standing directly behind the dog. Fragments also lodged in her eye and she ran from the room screaming. The police have declined to press charges against the girl. The police officer who discharged the firearm has been fired.



That dog probably weighed all of maybe 20 pounds.
There is something mentally wrong with a person like that. Yes, I know that even a little terrier could bite a person, but that is not a dog capable of inflicting grievous bodily harm on any cop. The worst they might have gotten is a torn pant leg.
What they did get is a little girl who will NEVER trust cops again as long as she lives, and most likely a huge lawsuit.

One of our neighbors has a bulldog that weighs about 75-85 pounds, and IS a vicious animal. He escaped from their property, entered our back yard and killed our toy poodle by basically biting it almost in half and breaking its lower jaw almost completely off.
We had to put the poodle to sleep, too much pain and suffering.

BoboXray1.jpg
BoboXray2.jpg

Now, that IS a dog that I would shoot, because next time he might go after my wife, who is a slow moving target on wheels:

karenhat2.jpg

Our other neighbor also has a dog that has gotten out and is prone to aggressive behavior, but he's about the size of the terrier that Officer Betts encountered. When he lunged at me and bit me, all I had to do was kick him out of the way, and he ran back to his yard. He did exactly as I mentioned above, my pant leg got torn a little bit and I had a slight red mark on my shin. Big deal.

We did not press charges against the neighbor with the vicious bulldog that killed our poodle. We had just moved in and didn't want to start off on bad footing right off the bat, but they did pay for the vet bill and cremation, about 700 dollars total.
I also did not press charges against the neighbor with the smaller dog that bit me either.

I did however explain to the neighbors with the vicious bulldog that I simply must defend myself or my family if their dog ever gets out again.
Yes, all dogs have the potential to be vicious but no normal adult would react to a 20 pound terrier having a hissy fit by shooting it.
It's just not capable of inflicting that much damage to a full grown man unless they're sitting right next to it.
 
Cop was scared of a small terrier?

I know, right? OMG a 20 pound yapper is having a fit.
Another dog story...when I was a kid one of our neighbors had a little terrier who ran loose all the time, going after us kids.
I'll never forget the first time he went after me, he latched onto my pant leg and I just walked all the way back to the owner's house with the little cur locked onto my pants every step of the way.

The lady said, "What did you do to provoke him?"
LOL, yeah right, I "provoked" Charlie by just standing in my friend's yard. :lamo

From that point on, Charlie was a target for my Wrist Rocket slingshot, and I did get him a couple of times, and I guess he learned to steer clear of me. His owners eventually moved away, and it's probably best they did, because all of us were scheming to bring Charlie's "reign of terror" to an end one way or the other. It became a running gag between us. That little **** is lucky his owners moved.
 
Here is my favorite from a few years back. A family's 5 pound Chihuahua-mix got out of the house and was sitting on its front porch. The police were called in and only one of the two officers responding had protective gear (used with training police K-9s). The two male officers approached, pepper-sprayed it, tazed it, and then shot it on the porch. Both officers made it home alive to their families. Here is a picture of the actual dog.

jackthecopmurdereddog.jpg

https://www.inquisitr.com/25649/police-shoot-dead-a-chihuahua-but-only-after-tasing-it-first/
 
Holy crap!!

The girl was right behind the dog and he shot anyway!!

They knew there were children in that room, and that officer just blasted away... there are no words. I'm horrified.
 
The dog is 35 to 40 pounds. Terriers are very aggressive natured, why they are called terriers. However, I still see no reason to shoot it - and in that situation firing with children present is indefensible - why he has been charged with a felony.
 
The article says a 35-40 pound bull terrier which isn't exactly a "little yapper".

Doesn't really matter though. The cop's actions were inexcusable. I don't care what kind or size it is. If there's kids downrange- and especially if I have a couple buddies there backing me up- I'm just resigning myself to getting bit rather than opening fire. Ferchrissake he didn't hit the dog anyway.
 
It must be an undiagnosed (hidden) phobia. Without a gun to fire in panic, he screams and runs.

Or drugs, I guess.
 
Last edited:
Well he's been fired, and is likely to face getting sued, so thats that.
 
Well he's been fired, and is likely to face getting sued, so thats that.

Not really; there has been no information on whether the child will ever see out of that eye again. Some things are beyond the "Oops! Do over!" frame of mind. How this individual was able to secure both a badge and a gun should be an "OMG!!" moment for all of us.
 
I can't even bring myself to watch the video. I have a 9 year old child. This is truly horrifying considering the guy got through police training, firearm safety courses, and psychological testing. And somehow the person who would fire a gun near small children over an angry dog made it through all that training. I hope he goes to jail and the family gets every penny he ever earned on top of a huge settlement from the government who sent this guy out there.
 
This kind of stuff is what results when rather than respecting officers for doing a tough job but holding them to a high standard, we as a nation worship them and excuse misbeavior running from negligence to intended, choosing rather to attack anyone who thinks officers should actually be held to a high standard a "cop hater."

In an environment where "I was afraid for my life" is a reasonable excuse for shooting someone with an iphone, things are going to slip over time (training, hiring, oversight, etc).




And so we get a cop who starts blasting away with a family right over there.... because a little dog yapped.
 
I can't even bring myself to watch the video. I have a 9 year old child. This is truly horrifying considering the guy got through police training, firearm safety courses, and psychological testing. And somehow the person who would fire a gun near small children over an angry dog made it through all that training. I hope he goes to jail and the family gets every penny he ever earned on top of a huge settlement from the government who sent this guy out there.

I disagree with that (bolded above) unless that is accomplished only by reducing the pay of those responsible for selecting, training and evaluating that police officer. To simply consider the taxpayers in general to be at fault is moronic and reduces any chance that something similar will not happen with that officer's replacement.
 
Not really; there has been no information on whether the child will ever see out of that eye again. Some things are beyond the "Oops! Do over!" frame of mind. How this individual was able to secure both a badge and a gun should be an "OMG!!" moment for all of us.

Well according to the article the child was released the same day, so it doesnt look like any major damage was done to her.
 
I disagree with that (bolded above) unless that is accomplished only by reducing the pay of those responsible for selecting, training and evaluating that police officer. To simply consider the taxpayers in general to be at fault is moronic and reduces any chance that something similar will not happen with that officer's replacement.

Suing the police dept doesnt 'consider' the taxpayers to be at fault. But we all know where the money would eventually come from. OTOH, since he's been charged with wrongdoing, if convicted, can he be held personally responsible? (Probably not and let's face it, lawyers know the city has deeper pockets.)
 
Back
Top Bottom