TheAgitator.com
About That New Professionalism…
Thursday, March 26th, 2009So remember the Oklahoma sheriff’s deputy who killed a woman’s dog after stopping to ask for directions?
Here’s the video:
Not only wasn’t Deputy Sean Knight fired after that incident, he was actually promoted.
But it doesn’t end there. It turns out that another Sheriff’s Deupty named Michael Laffoon was moonlighting as a security manager at a local private golf club. Laffoon got Knight a job working security at the club. Knight was later shown to have falsified his timesheets at that position. Meaning he was essentially stealing money from the golf club. Laffoon fired Knight from the secuirty gig, but took no disciplenary action against him as a sheriff’s deputy.
The kicker comes when the local newspaper asked the sheriff what he makes of all of this:
Sheriff Art Kell said, “I have enough to worry about with this other deputy stealing from the department to start an investigation over another deputy who may have falsified timesheets… until they break the law, I’m not going to get involved. I’ve had enough bad media press to deal with to start this up.”
Kell said that Winter Creek should have filed charges on Knight if they were concerned about stealing of company time, and added, “what my guys do on their own time is their own business, not mine, unless they break a policy or law.”
When asked if falsifying timesheets and stealing are against the law, Kell said, “Law, I don’t know of any law that says you can’t falsify time sheets at a golf course, so no. And if you (Reporter Mike Friend) want to keep asking me questions on this issue you’ll just damage any good relationship I have with the paper. You can’t tell me you don’t ever speed while you’re driving down the road, or that you don’t break the law and sin… so why is this such a big deal if the deputy was not working on department time? If I start calling you and asking you questions about your crimes and sins we’ll see how much you like it.”
The county is expected to settle with the owner of the dog in the video above for $15,000.
“I don’t know of any law that says you can’t falsify time sheets at a golf course, so no.”
Good. Grief. I also like the (usual) “I bet you break some laws sometimes too” kind of argument – speeding being a common one, how dare you judge me etc. Except that speeding in itself is no more a crime than drug use is. Grrr. Suppose the reporter actually is engaged in fraud, or gross negligence of position?
I’m a dog lover who was once bitten by someone’s unleashed dog. If a dog is running toward me, I will make no assumption that it is not comming to attack. I would ideally find a way to neutralize it, without killing it. But I wouldn’t blame someone for killing a charging dog., when the person has to think within seconds. I am very against what a lot of cops do (drug raids, etc.). This cop didn’t act ideally, but it’s not like some crazy baseless response.
Fuck Sheriff Kell. His statements should be brought up in court whenever a prosecutor tries to present one of his officer’s testimony as the word of an unimpeachable hero.
I was once bitten by someone’s unleashed child. If a child is running toward me, I will make no assumption that it is not comming to attack. I would ideally find a way to neutralize it, without killing it. But I wouldn’t blame someone for killing a charging child, when the person has to think within seconds…
Now why will so many people consider my statement to be ridiculous but not #2’s?
[...] Balko has the details. Don’t get me wrong: dogs should be tied up if left outside. But can you imagine anyone except a cop in a corrupt department getting away with something like this? [...]
Invid, your statement is ridiculous because you’d have to be pretty pathetic to let a child bite you. It doesn’t have near the physical capabilities of the dog.
“Now why will so many people consider my statement to be ridiculous but not #2’s”
Because you’re comparing apples and oranges at best. the vast majority of human children don’t have a mouth full of sharp teeth and the strength/ability to use them efficiently. I’m sure we will soon get a number of comments about how the dog “clearly” wasn’t attacking. The video doesn’t show that clearly at all. Out of the many “puppycides” Mr. Balko has reported, this is one of the least worth getting worked up over.
As for the time sheet issue, I think the chief brings up a valid point: without an official complaint from the victim, why charge him with anything? Isn’t one of the biggest complaints on this site that many people are being investigated and arrested for what should be minor crimes based on what amounts to rumors? Why is that wrong when it’s an anonymous tip against a dude smoking pot, but okay when its timecard fraud and the company never complained?
I was once bitten by someone’s unleashed toaster. If a toaster is running toward me, I will make no assumption that it is not comming to attack. I would ideally find a way to neutralize it, without killing it. But I wouldn’t blame someone for killing a charging toaster, when the person has to think within seconds…
It’s like Mad Libs, but less fun….
“this is one of the least worth getting worked up over. ”
Poor choice of words on my part, but I stand by my point. This is arguably a defensible action, and no matter how many times I watch the video that doesn’t change.
WTF?!?!? (said as blood trickles out of his eyes)
@ #2, anonymous:
As a dog lover myself I can defintely differenciate between a dog who is “charging” and one just running up to me because that’s what most friendly dogs do. Some people are more afraid of dogs than others and see any dog running towards them as a threat. Frankly I think if someone is skittish enough to feel threatened when faced with what that dog in that video did, I’m not so sure they should be trusted with determining what should and should not be shot at.
And let’s not forget this guy wasn’t arresting anyone or in any kind of dangerous situation, he had stopped to ask for directions. I will never, ever think it is OK for the cops to shoot and kill any animal approaching them when they’re on someone’s property for no reason whatsoever. I’m pretty sure it’s not legal for someone to trespass on your land and shoot your pet when they feel threatened, it’s shouldn’t be legal for cops to do it either.
I love the subtle threat the chief gives the reporter- ‘And if you (Reporter Mike Friend) want to keep asking me questions on this issue you’ll just damage any good relationship I have with the paper.’
Can anyone doubt the golf course is intimidated by these power freaks? Stealing time is probably a tradition around there, just like ‘protection’ is a tradition in New Orleans…
#2, good post. it got a lot of attention.
your arguement is invalid not because the shooting was a bad reaction to a threatening situation, but because the Police officer WAS the threatening situation. the dog was reacting to him. the police officer not only caused the situation, he escalated it by using his handgun. its cop-dog-cop.
if a man with a gun shows up at my property univited, i hope my dog charges. that’s what guard dogs do.
What about the gold club owner who got proverbally bitten by an unleashed police officer?
Chance, you stated you watched the video. But have you watched the video imagining yourself in that very same situation?
If not, watch it again with that in mind. Now imagine you get our of your vehicle in a neighborhood, and your not more than two steps from your car door. And even if you had a gun on you, and you saw a dog running at you, wouldn’t your first instinct be to get back into your car?
That’s what is so damning about that video.
It highlights what a different state of mind that cops sometimes have, and the state of mind of normal, everyday citizens.
My first thought, and the first thought of any average, everyday citizen would be, is to get back into your car. NOT pull out your pistol and fire bullets at it.
If you can’t see that, then do us a favor and never drive around with a pistol.
Cheers.
The key lesson from this story is that videotaping the police should be illegal. It’s appalling that they should be inconvenienced by bad press resulting from their negligence and misbehaviour.
what a screwed up county police dept. I’d love to think the local populace will want some changes when the next election comes up, but I’m not going to hold my breath. $15k isn’t enough money to keep me from beatin that gentlemans ass.
As a public service, I would like to assist Sheriff Kell.
Yes, falsely filling out a time sheet for the purpose of being paid for time you did not work is a crime. See 21 Okla. Stat. § 1542 (defining false pretenses).
OK, for those saying that from the video it is not clear that the officer acted inappropriately…
Maybe, but the reactions afterward would seem to indicate that the officer felt he acted inappropriately. We see cops kill dogs all the time, and they don’t run away, or hide, or wait for the person’s security camera to identify them. As I recall from the original article (not looking it up right now) they threatened this woman afterward. They made threats against her to try and stop her from showing anybody the video and they made threats to try and stop her from taking any legal action.
If her dog attacked a police officer, you would think they would charge her, not hide from her charges.
This is not the kind of response we normally see from cops who think they made a ‘righteous kill’.
Not to mention the fact that guy could have just got back in the car. He killed because these losers hope everyday that they finally get a reason to kill something or someone. In their own head they are all Dirty Harry, gunnin’ down punks.
Anonymous @ #2. I’ll bet you live in a city.
This is central Oklahoma, where people who own land own vast tracts of land, and dogs run free on that land, without running into strangers. For a police officer not to know how to deal with that (and this one probably did, but he shot the dog without even putting out his hand), is like a white cop in Harlem not understanding black slang. If he’d put out his hand, the dog would have stopped and licked it. The dog was approaching fast, but with its head down. Everyone who knows anything about dogs (which is to say, everyone in rural Oklahoma) knows that’s not threatening. And the dog’s an Airedale Terrier, hardly a threatening or mean breed.
At best he’s incompetent and dishonest. At worst he’s a mean sonofabitch and dishonest. Either way, he shouldn’t carry a gun for the state.
God forbid he misinterpret the body language of, you know, a citizen. Away from the cameras of course.
That officer wasnt to in danger as he had ample time to get in the car and leave as there was no reason for him to be on the owners property. Time to back up, slowly evaluate the situation then fire on the dog as it appeared to be running past him…brilliant. More and more law enforcement is attracting the exact wrong type of people for the position.
Shooting the dog is indefensible, and not punishing the officer is also indefensible.
But Chance’s other point above is dead on. Without a criminal complaint from the golf course, the alleged timesheet falsification and employment termination amount to a civil contract dispute. While one can certainly argue that cops should be held to higher standards of honesty than others and/or that a reputation for dishonesty should disqualify someone from being a cop, I doubt most of you would want the police involved in a private contract dispute (unless one of the parties files a criminal complaint).
Sorry, but the sheriff actually does have bigger problems than a dispute between an officer and his outside employer. For one thing, he has an officer who trespasses on citizens’ property and kills pets without cause.
Ginger Dan sums it up best: WTF?!
Sean Knight is a piece of shit who exhibits a terrible disregard for life. Badge-lickers (including some of the posts here) are complicit in putting cops like this POS in position to cause further misery.
Do you want a punk-ass POS like Knight pulling your teenage kid over for a speeding ticket? Of course not. Then demand better.
Why did most Americans refuse to set the bar a little higher?
Thanks to the Sheriff for so succinctly pointing out the main problem with modern journalism’s reporting of governmental activity at the local scale.
I don’t know how these people keep calm. If this happened to my pet I would be going to prison.
Even if he was threatened, shooting the dog is a dumbassed move.
The last time I was actually threatened by a dog, I used pepperspray. Stopped the threat display instantly, and that neighborhood dog would cross the street to avoid me afterwards.
Posties and meter readers use the stuff on threatening dogs ( and they get more dog attacks than anyone else ) for good reason.
The dog didn’t even look like it was going to attack. It looked like it was friendly. Police officers shouldn’t be allowed to carry guns, unless they receive prior written approval from a supervisor.
One thing that hasn’t been noted here.
I’ve watched the video a few times. Am I the only one who thinks that the dog’s approach to the cop isn’t direct, but oblique? It looks to me that the dog was going to pass a foot or two to the cop’s left. That is what friendly dogs do, in my experience.
Seeker, I thought the same thing.
I think I’ll skip over the issue of whether the cop was justified in killing the dog and go right to the part where they changed their story and tried to keep it from going public. Until recently cops have always been in control of how the story was told. They were believed to be honest by the public and the media and they always had buddies to back them up.
I think cameras will eventually threaten that so severely that it’s only a matter of time before publishing or distributing pictures or video of cops will be a crime. In fact, I suspect even taking pictures will be prohibited.
Years from now, these will be the good ol’ days.
seeker, completely agree and to compound it the officer even stepped back increasing the seperation between he and the dog, the dog didnt change course at all, but rather continued on its path away from the piece of sh!t officer. At no point did the dog change course and aggresively pursue the officer. I also must have forgotten that simply because you wear a uniform gives you free reign to enter anyones property even with no cause. Asking for directions is no reason to continue a course that could enodanger you when a dog is present as he clearly saw when he told the other occupant of the car to stay in the car. If he had a shred of common sense would he not have continued to a house which did not have a dog present? Last I checked there was nothing stopping me from having my dog on my front yard as long as it stayed there, with invisible fences and the like its even more of an option these days.
Did you ever notice, there is practically never a report of kittycide involving police? Are police cat people like me, or are cats just smart enough to GTFO when the cops pull up?
Even if he was threatened, shooting the dog is a dumbassed move. The last time I was actually threatened by a dog, I used pepperspray. Stopped the threat display instantly, and that neighborhood dog would cross the street to avoid me afterwards.
Posties and meter readers use the stuff on threatening dogs ( and they get more dog attacks than anyone else ) for good reason.
Now that, that I can agree with.
Man… I agree the issue at the golf course is nothing more than fluff to point out what a dick the cop is. And he is…
I didn’t watch the video at first. I was bitten by a dog when I was about 7 years old, and I’ve been skittish (SP?) around them ever since. I assumed dog charged, damn straight I’d shoot the thing if I had a gun. Then I watched the video. The first thing I thought was “why didn’t he just get back in the car”? Then I think the young lady in the video nailed it… he was showing off for his ride-along buddy. You can just tell by his nonchalant attitude when shooting the dog, and afterward. No panic, no grief, just a cold blooded kill. What a dick.
#4 Invid,
Now why will so many people consider my statement to be ridiculous but not #2’s?
Because it’s a DOG! The same reason we test drugs on mice and not babies. Don’t get me wrong, the cop is a dick, but a dog and a child are not the same thing.
“When asked if falsifying timesheets and stealing are against the law, Kell said, “Law, I don’t know of any law that says you can’t falsify time sheets at a golf course, so no. And if you (Reporter Mike Friend) want to keep asking me questions on this issue you’ll just damage any good relationship I have with the paper. You can’t tell me you don’t ever speed while you’re driving down the road, ”
Say is attempted extortion against the law?
It seems very possible to me that Sheriff Kell does not regard padding the timesheet as a form of stealing because that is common practice in his department.
“Now imagine you get out of your vehicle in a neighborhood,” “dogs should be tied up if left outside”
Not only was the dog on his own property, that “street” he drove up to get to the house is the DRIVEWAY. And aren’t radio dispatchers suppose to be able to give directions? I find it hard to believe that a officer that I assume is an Oklahoman is completely ignorant about animals. Bet he’s useless around horses too.
The woman was right on, he thought he could kill and get away with it.
But I guess Jesus told him it was OK, I mean, he is a graduate of Mid America Christian University “Since 1953
Mid-America Christian University has equipped students of all ages and backgrounds to impact their world for Christ”
Sean’s just exercising his god-given dominion over other creatures.
Opps,
got it from his linkin
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/6/b97/aaa
but there’s no full profile,
Hmm… eh eh
“dogs should be tied up if left outside”
Actually tying a dog up all the time makes them far more likely to become aggressive and eventually bite someone. Dogs need to be able to run for their physical and mental health, even if it is just around the yard. In OK and many other states and even in rural areas in some populous states, dogs can often run for miles without ever leaving their owner’s property, and they should be allowed to do so. Mine runs in the unihabited woods behind my property, she likes to mouse and hunt rabbits and squirrels.
Dave Krueger post #30:
That movement is already underway. Take a look at this story. To sum it up, one of the guys with whom I went to law school was arrested last year for filming an arrest with his cell phone. He was charged with wiretapping, disturbing the peace, and aiding an escape (the guy almost escaped because the police were so preoccupied with being filmed)
http://thephoenix.com/boston/News/56680-Echoes-of-Rodney-King/
Get hold of yourselves, group. I completely agree that Sean Knight is a jackass–and the Sheriff probably isn’t any better–but can [i]anybody[/i] point to a case [i]anywhere[/i] in this nation where someone has been criminally charged for taking liberties with their timecard? The courts would be vastly busier….
@ Brian 41:
I don’t think it rises to the level of being worthy of criminal charges.
The problem is Should a person who has done that be on a police force? The issue is one of character, not criminality.
$15K is an insult. I can imagine that part of the settlement will be for the victim to keep quiet. This video should be on mainstream news everywhere, but it simply hasn’t gotten the publicity. I sure hope that that $15K isn’t a payoff to make the video disappear too. I’d be willing to put up my share to make sure this story doesn’t go away.
@ Brian V.: The vast majority of minor criminal charges do not result in reported cases, but I can assure you that I have seen companies bring charges where employees obtained payment for time they did not work. I have also seen it in the context of a contractor receiving money and not performing.
Most of the time, though, even in large embezzlement cases, local prosecutors don’t want to get involved, considering it to be a civil dispute. You’re more likely to have a federal prosecution if they can find a jurisdictional hook.
The simple fact is that prosecutors don’t want to deal with big cases with formidable defense teams. It’s vastly easier to deal with poor folks who have been arrested and scraped together $500.00 for bond and $1,000.00 for a cheap lawyer who will just deal the case out. Those people can’t afford the expenses of a trial.
Chance, per #32, … buddy … I know you can see reason, man.
It doesn’t matter if it’s a cat, dog, goat, or a pet tarantula.
If you can’t make these connections:
1) To most, pets have an emotional relevance to their owners, and the meaningless destruction can have long term effects thereby making it not just a deadly assault on an animal, but an emotional assault to their owners.
2) Pets are considered by their owners as family members.
3) Pets are considered by their owners as FAMILY, dammit.
4) Animals should have at least some rights, lest we be the animals.
Even if you can’t make those connections as a “cat person.” Then you surely can make this one:
Pets are personal property. And the police, nor anyone else, has the right to come onto your property and destroy your property.
If your personal property is deemed a public menace, then there maybe some cause. But since there is no evidence that this particular piece of personal property was a public menace, and since the cop had no right to be there at all, there’s absolutely no justification for the meaningless destruction of someone’s personal property.
And one doesn’t have to be a “dog person” to realize this.
It’s wrong from every conceivable angle.
BTW, cat’s suck, dude. Get a dog. ;)
Cheers.
It just dawned on me.
Why would this golf course hire this asswipe anyway?
Fuck ‘em. I’m glad they were cheated.
@ PogueMahone
The part of me that hates golf wants to agree with you.
The part of me that hates dishonest cops wants to disagree with you.
;)
Anyone who knows how dogs react can see that this was not an attack. No matter how many times I watch the video I see the same thing: No attack, just a dog greeting someone.
SWAT wannabes.
SWAT gets to shoot dogs … therefor you aren’t a real cop unless you off some family’s pooch.
As far as I am concerned, any cop that shoots a dog and doesn’t have an empty pepperspray can and doesn’t have bite marks on him needs to be encouraged to seek work in a mall.
#40 Ben,
Thanks for the link. Seems I remember hearing about that case. It’s pretty sad. I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for any legislative efforts to come to the aid of any citizen performing a public duty if that duty is capturing police misconduct. Legislatures are not the solution. They’re a major part of the problem.