TheAgitator.com
Puppycide
Tuesday, February 10th, 2009In Las Vegas:
“Coco” was a good dog. Almost embarrassingly so.
When Jose Fernandez would have friends over, he would brag that he had a pit bull. He’d take his friends into the backyard to see Coco and the 6-year-old pit bull would lick their feet.
“I’d say, ‘Come on! Put on a mean face or something!’” Fernandez, 40, said.
But that’s all Coco would do, he said. Lick them, or put his paw on their laps for attention.
Around 5 a.m. Friday, Coco was shot and killed in his backyard by a Las Vegas police officer.
The officer was one of several who were searching for a DUI suspect who fled on foot from a traffic stop near Nellis Boulevard and Sahara Avenue, according to department spokesman Bill Cassell.
Police searched a nearby neighborhood with a helicopter equipped with a heat detecting device and spotted a large mass in a shed behind a home at 4880 Welter Ave., Cassell said.
Cassell said the dog, which was inside the shed, confronted officers. But he said he didn’t know how the dog displayed aggressiveness.
“The officer did everything he could to avoid shooting at the dog. Ultimately he was forced to fire in self-defense,” Cassell said.
Two shots rang out. Coco had a bullet wound in his back and in his chest, according to Fernandez and his girlfriend, Yurisel De La Torre. Both were at work at the time.
The suspect, whose name and charges were not released, was arrested a few doors away.
Cassell said the dog’s death was a mistake and the department offered apologies to the family.
“This is an extra unfortunate incident,” he said. “All cops are animal lovers and it hurts us deeply when something like this occurs.”
A next-door neighbor said she never heard Coco bark or growl at the officers.
Sorry, but this is bullshit. If “all cops” were “animal lovers,” they’d learn how to subdue a dog without killing it. This is happening way too often.
At least the police department had the courage to admit that they made a mistake.
““The officer did everything he could to avoid shooting at the dog. Ultimately he was forced to fire in self-defense,” Cassell said.”
Bullshit.
““This is an extra unfortunate incident,” he said. “All cops are animal lovers and it hurts us deeply when something like this occurs.””
Bullshit.
How do these ‘Police Spokespeople’ just walk up to the reporter and spout this egregious crap? Oh that’s right… the ‘kool aid’ of the Police Culture has conditioned them to be able to do this.
They still murdered a dog while trespassing on private property.
If the so-called spokesman doesn’t know how the dog displayed aggressiveness, what makes him so fucking quick to say the cop has to fire in self-defense?
These assholes don’t even make a pretense of concocting stories that make sense anymore.
Searching for a DUI suspect? Helicopters? They have his fucking car, so what immanent harm are they preventing with this use of expensive resources and dog shooting?
Why is there not a ‘puppycide’ category?
“All cops are animal lovers…” What a joke. How can anyone even say that with a straight face?
They did everthing they could? Like, what? Slam the door of the shed when they realized the “warm mass” was a dog and not a DUI suspect? Oh…
How were they even allowed to go into the person’s shed?
“The officer did everything he could to avoid shooting at the dog. Ultimately he was forced to fire in self-defense,” Cassell said.
I’d liek to see a list of “everything he could do” and see how their idea of “everything” differs from mine. I bet he didn’t try retreating or running out of the yard.
To steal shamelessly from a commenter on the Calvo case, if they didn’t want their dog to be shot by police, they shouldn’t have gotten a brown dog.
Cops risk their lives every day, and need to let off some steam by flying helicopters around residential areas and killing animals. Get off their backs.
Zeb, that would be surrendering, and cops can never surrender. That’s why when the War on Drugs is ended there will be underground guerrilla police groups that continue to murder dogs, then blame the murders on “drugs.”
“The suspect, whose name and charges were not released, was arrested a few doors away.”
No, the suspect, whose name was not released, remains employed by the Las Vegas Police Department.
Infuriating.
I’m waiting for a backlash to all this from the American people…
…That will probably never come.
It’s getting to the point where I am truly afraid of what would happen to my dogs should the cops decide to raid my house on some spurious charge, and afraid of what my own reaction would be if they did this to my dogs..
What necessitated him staying there in the yard? He already determined the large mass was not the suspect. So what kept him from retreating* even from an aggressive animal?
*This of course leads down another path some probably don’t want to deal with though which is the inane idea of BLANKET “stand your ground” statutes.
Perhaps U.S. Mail Carriers could start training police officers how to deal with dogs……after all they have been dealing with dogs for decades. And they aren’t toting any big rifles for protection.
Or maybe we should arm our mail carriers with high powered rifles so that they can take out all the dogs on their mail routes!
I have two dogs who I love like family.
If someone intentionally harmed them, I’d feel nothing but blind, vengeance-fueled rage against whoever was responsible.
I’m sorry for Jose’s loss. My condolences
I’m feeling lazy today, so I’ll just repost what I wrote on my blog:
Sooooo…….
The JBT tried to avoid shooting the family dog….. which was inside a shed in the fenced backyard of a private residence….. which they entered without a search warrant…..after searching a nearby neighborhood with a helicopter equipped with a heat detecting device and spotted a ‘large mass’ in a shed behind a home…again, no search warrant…… in pursuit of a DUI suspect who had fled the scene of a traffic stop on foot.
Fuckwits.
What Shay said…
Not a pro-stun gun person, but wouldn’t that have been an option?
Not sure how it affects animals…
Anything would have to be better than this dimwit shooting the creature.
By the way, SORRY doesn’t quite cut it.
JUst the SOUND of a 9mm, 40 S & W or .45 going off is enough to stun and scare most animals. Just ask a deer.
What I don’t get: police are obviously being conditioned to shoot first, ask questions later (this isn’t the only example, as you all know). Why isn’t there an enormous amount of outrage over this at every level of government and society? I should think that simply drawing your weapon, much less firing it, would require so much paperwork, justification, and explanation as to make it something most police just don’t do very often.
If they had any common sense, they’d realize that most dogs will leave you alone and stop defending their territory once you retreat. Firing a gun in a residential setting over a dog that is just doing its thing is extremely irresponsible, but hey, they’re cops. They can shoot whenever they feel threatened. They’re not like us “mere civilians” who have to run away in stark terror before we can defend ourselves in states that lack a castle doctrine.
I think it’s about time for Cesar Millan to do a Dog Whisperer episode with some police academy trainees…
Nathan-
Even though they had his car and hardly represented a danger, had the cops just played it cool and picked him up later, or whatever, then they wouldn’t have been able to run around in the dark with their guns out. And if you can’t run around in the dark playing soldier what fun is it being a cop?
I’m with #18…if he was really trying to avoid hurting the dog but really felt he was in danger, why didn’t he use his Taser?
Why didn’t they use a taser? Come on folks, think like a cop for a second and you’ll figure this out. When it’s a dog involved you don’t use your taser because you CAN use your gun. Why would you pass up an opportunity to use your gun in the field?
Wow, this is sad. Not necessarily malicious I guess, but really sad.
Couldn’t they learn a thing or two about handling dogs from their civil service brethren, the USPS? I have a mailman friend who says they have a hierarchy of aggressive dog responses, ranging from yelling to punching to mace. Seems like some cross-agency civil servant training is in order here.
“The officer did everything he could to avoid shooting at the dog. Ultimately he was forced to fire in self-defense,” Cassell said.
Yet it’s truly amazing how many electric and gas company employees cross onto folk’s yards yet somehow manage not to kill dogs every month. Maybe the police should have to train with them for a few months.
“All cops are animal lovers” is about as accurate as “all cops are psychopaths” — around 50% in my experience.
So, tangential question for you dog-having folk…
My neighbor’s dog – a sheepdog, or something like it – came into my yard yesterday and barked and lunged toward me for several minutes. It got within about 15 feet of me, barking the whole time. I sternly stood my ground, and occasionally stepped toward him, pointing my finger and telling him to “go home!” He didn’t stop barking or leave until my neighbor had almost reached the boundary of my property.
I live in one of those obnoxious neighborhoods where everyone’s got a big house and 2+ acres. So the dog was way, way, WAY out of line.
That said, I felt somewhat threatened, but not like I needed to shoot.
Am I correct in assuming that a cop would have shot the dog in this instance?
More importantly, how should I handle the situation differently next time, to convince the dog to leave me alone? I do have a toddler and an infant, and I don’t want the dog to come after them the way he did me. I’d appreciate your advice.
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Hey Brownwyn,
Hard to say if it would have been shot or not. Cops SHOULD only kill a dog if it presents an immediate physical threat (ie is lunging at them, about to bite), but obviously that isn’t always how it works.
In terms of dealing with the dog, the best thing would honestly be to make friends with the dog. I know my parent’s dog will bark her head off at someone walking up the driveway, then will happily let them pet her head when they actually come up to her.
Now depending on the dog, just walking up to it and trusting it not to go from barking to biting might not be the greatest idea ever. Most dogs are ultimately friendly though, and will listen to people they know. Maybe ask the neighbor what the best way to deal with it is?
It’s the same thing every time.
Someone owns a dog. Cop comes onto property (trespasses, whatever). Cop perceives a threat no matter how miniscule. Cop dispatches dog with impunity. Radley reports, you deride.
I marvel at the consistent emotion, at the impotent rage time and again in the comments of these posts.
It is the nature of dogs to pose a danger, even if only as an alarm or diversion. Cops know this. Dog owners seem a little behind the curve. Surely one of the reasons to own a large dog is for self-defense. I see plenty of petite women out walking their boxers or Dobies or Rotts.
There are only three options:
1. Status quo — SWAT roulette for dogs, puppycide posts from here to kingdom come.
2. Legislation — will never get passed, as no politician could weather the police union’s storm of “you’re putting the lives of officers in danger.”
3. Spontaneous citizen action — the only hope.
On March 1, 2009, I plan to attend a round table of animal welfare groups in Orange County, CA, and strike up some conversations about puppycide and just how much “on the radar” this issue is among professionals. A couple of posters here (John Jenkins and Old) have offered their insights, which I will share in discussion. I’ll be happy to report back with my observations.
In the meantime, I ask, among all you dog owners out there (and I’m not one), are there any willing to do more than cry your eyes out at the next puppycide outrage due to be posted within the next 72 hours or less?
“If ‘all cops” were ‘animal lovers,’ they’d learn how to subdue a dog without killing it.”
I agree, completely. As a Letter Carrier for 18 years I have had many encounters with dogs. I was only bitten in the first year on the job. After that I learned how to better deal with most dogs. By talking to them you allay any fears they may have. Some dogs, of course, like people, you can’t talk to.
Back in the early 90’s I once owned a large boxer in Phoenix, very protective but nice as pie. Never bit anyone. He chased away contractors, postmen, coyotes. Thank goodness the police never came by. In Mesa, a cop was investigating claims of dangerous pit-bulls on the loose (someone confused 2 brindle boxers for pit bulls) so he stood on his cruiser to peer into their owner’s walled yard. Dogs see him looking over, and go crazy, he actually fires over the wall into the yard, kills both of them. He probably did it for… the children. Yeah, that’s it. It’s for the children!
To think Michael Vick is in prison for killing dogs…..
He should have been a cop.
TC wins the prize!
Good luck Cynical, sounds like a great idea to get the word out.
I think many of us are missing something that could have been much worse.
The large mass seen by the heat sensing helicopter could have been Mr Fernandez doing some garden equipment maintenance.
You can bet when Joe Cop opened that shed if he had seen Fernandez standing there with his 14 inch shears Fernandez would be dead right now.
You can also bet that this statement would not change much “This is an extra unfortunate incident,” he said. “All cops are people lovers and it hurts us deeply when something like this occurs.”.
I wonder how many grow operations that Helo has found illegally.
Are there any statistics kept as to how many animals are shot by each officer? I wonder if the statistics are skewed by a small number of officers who for whatever reason seem predisposed to kill dogs?
“The large mass seen by the heat sensing helicopter could have been Mr Fernandez doing some garden equipment maintenance.
You can bet when Joe Cop opened that shed if he had seen Fernandez standing there with his 14 inch shears Fernandez would be dead right now.”
You’re right Mack, Fernandez would have been shot. And then they would have covered it up by smearing his reputation and saying he assaulted a police officer with the shears so the officer shot in self defense because……and here’s the ol’ standby that works every time…..”I was in fear for my life.” They would have also tried to dig up anything they could about Fernandez to ensure the people that Fernandez was really some kind of terrible person who deserved what he got. How many innocent people have they done that to?
Take the guns away from the cops and issue them vacuum cleaners if they’re so afraid of dogs.
Uh, no.
Kirby salesmen wouldn’t make any sales if they shot a dog every time they came to someone’s door.
#32 | Cynical In CA | February 10th, 2009 at 5:43 pm
…
In the meantime, I ask, among all you dog owners out there (and I’m not one), are there any willing to do more than cry your eyes out at the next puppycide outrage due to be posted within the next 72 hours or less?
The K-9 Partner Vest
Arizona legislators on House Bill 2448
Tony Stewart
Ben Roethlisberger
I will be having some good conversations down at the dog park when Old Top is sporting something to look like one of these.
Good luck Cynical In CA.
#1 | ALowe | February 10th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
wrote:
“At least the police department had the courage to admit that they made a mistake.”
COURAGE???!!!
If there was any true courage displayed by these officers, the dog would still be alive!
I think PETA needs to get involved with this.
PETA? They’d rather have the dog dead than “confined” as a pet.
Nah, PETA would only get involved if they skinned the pup to make a stole or barbecued him afterwards…
Am I correct in assuming that a cop would have shot the dog in this instance?A cop would have shot the dog long before it left its own yard.
Looks like if you own a dog, installing surveillance cameras might be a good idea. The only way these cops get what’s coming is if the video shows up on YouTube.
Gods. What is wrong with them? Why is the first response to shoot everything that isn’t in a uniform?
You da man, old. Inspiration. I’ll report back on my findings too.
#49 | Cynical In CA | February 12th, 2009 at 11:34 am
You da man, old. Inspiration. I’ll report back on my findings too.
Please do.
Also, as Ernest Hemingway wrote in The Sun Also Rises “Direct action,” said Bill. “It beats legislation.”