Cop Shoots Service Dog During Kid's Birthday Party

Post Reply New Topic

That is horrific!

The cop was there to cite a traffic violation. One of the neighbors called to complain about the parking situation. While I don't agree with shooting pets and generally disagree with anything police do in this case I understand what happened. If the officer is not specifically trained to deal with animals then he can't be expected to know how to respond to two unleashed dogs running around him, barking at him, approaching him, and making clearly territorial gestures.

Clearly this guy was a bit of an idiot for the way he responded to the dogs. However, for a lot of people ignorance of how to deal with animals is the norm. For example Arabs and most Muslims are terrified of dogs, who they consider impure and are not accustomed to. So when our neighbors Yorkie approaches them yipping happily they respond as if it were, say, a raccoon making hissing sounds.

On that note shooting dogs is SoP. The dogs are literally there to defend the property (in theory). The officer needs to make a value judgement between his need to infringe on our rights and the dog's duty to protect it's family and thus the risk to the officer.

Now, the fact that the officer abused the dogs and directly caused them to attack him is another issue altogether. Unfortunately the law sees them as property, much as a door smashed in at the owners expense and all a part of the cost of doing business.

sht.....absolutely disgusting,the poor dog.
wonder what the ALF think of actions like this?
a terrible waste of a dogs life,and to put it through that suffering...unbelievable.

Did the cop get his certificate from a Cracker Jack box? That's sickening.

The few times in my life I've interacted with police, each one has left me with a strong suspicion of mistrust, or they have been outright nasty individuals. They remind me of school bullies. Too much self-importance and too little compassion (with a dash of zero understanding or care).

I wouldn't trust a policeman to walk me across the road. And I sure wouldn't tell a policeman anything not specifically required of me.

If something like that happened in my country, the police would have been handed a bill for the dog, and the community uproar would have caused an investigation of the officer’s action. Not that either would have resulted in any satisfactory outcome for the dog owner.

The dogs were clearly being territorial. All you do is say "hello dog" and look at him. They'll wag their tail that you acknowledged them, but they'll keep barking until you acknowledge their existence.

The officer was an idiot, a fool, and danger to the neighbourhood. He needs sacking at the very least.

Besides the video showing the dog exhibiting normal, non-aggressive dog behavior, those service dogs are chosen as puppies to have the calmest and least excitable demeanor and if during their years of training that changes then they're are flunked out of the program. I'm sure that despite everything, though, the cop will be let off and the owner will have to pay the ticket, and maybe also have to apologize to the cop for the mental trauma the cop suffered. There is something wrong with too many of the police in this country. It's like they're slowly turning into the type of police in third-world countries, where violence, abuse of power and corruption are the norm rather than the exception.

The dogs shouldn't have been out loose like that.
However, it's obvious the dog was not trying to attack the cop.
The cop is an a**hole and an animal abuser.
This dog shooting thing with the cops is very disturbing.

Labs are not usually aggressive,I don't understand why the jackass acted like that,seemed like he would have used mace or pepper spray if he felt threatened instead of going lethal.Or better yet call animal control.If the officer had any K-9 training I doubt this would have happened,they are usually dog lovers.
What a rotten thing to happen on your birthday.

The dogs were snarling and growling. If a dog was doing that to me, I wouldn't know if they were going to attack or not. Seesh, maybe we should start using tranquilizers.

Even an idiot should know not to kick a dog....and twice? and then shoot it because that makes it act aggressive, well most living things will probably retaliate when you kick them I'd have a hard time not retaliating if someone kicked me. Next we'll here of a cop shooting someones cat for hissing at them or biting and clawing when they don't leave it alone...

The dogs appeared to be more excited than aggressive. I've seen plenty of aggressive dogs and their actions at a time like that are much more obvious. If the cop would have simply stood still for a moment and not advanced into the yard so quickly the dogs very likely would have settled down. He could have also stayed in the car and sounded his siren or use the PA to get the people to come out and call the dogs in. I've dealt with loose dogs in situations like this many times and have never been bitten and have only come close to being bitten a very few times. Those times the dogs were definitely displaying aggression in a much more persuasive manner than what we see in this video. A cop really shouldn't need specific training on each and every possible scenario that might come up. They are universally expected to exercise some common sense and good judgment which was obviously missing here.

I looked it up and Filer Idaho is a small town of only 2500 residents. I would expect the cops to be more neighborly and less aggressive in that setting. I mean come on, he was there to serve a $100 citation, not to apprehend an armed and dangerous murderer protected by guard dogs. His actions may have been legal but still morally wrong and he has no doubt made a hell of a lot of of unnecessary enemies that will last the duration of his career and then some. People don't easily forgive or forget stuff like that. If I were a cop I would not want to be making enemies like that. Not only for my sake but for the reputation and the public's trust of the police force and law enforcement in general that is being represented by wearing the uniform.

Officer Hassani has been placed on administrative leave pending investigation.
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2014/02/11/3023102/filer-officer-on-administrative.html

"Filer Police Officer Tarek Hassani was placed Tuesday on administrative leave following Saturday’s shooting death of a resident’s dog, said city Mayor Rick Dunn.
The city’s move follows local and national outcry stemming from a video recording of the black Labrador’s demise, including many calls from Magic Valley residents for his job.
“We want (Hassani) fired,” said Rick Clubb, Hooch’s owner. “He had other options. He didn’t have to kill my dog.”
After the Times-News posted the police department’s video of the shooting — from Hassani’s dashboard-mounted camera — on Magicvalley.com on Monday, calls began to flood City Hall, city officials said."