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posted by M Caulfield
August 22, 2013
There appears to be an epidemic in dog shootings these days, at the hands of police officers. If anything, the increase in pet shootings seems to be an effective way to attempt to coerce submission from community members through fear. And the trigger-finger murderers, who wrongfully execute these animals, rarely ever see any consequences for their actions.
Police officers in Missouri shot a chained Bulldog, which was posing no immediate threat to anyone, seeing as it was securely chained to a pole. The dog remained calmly lying on the ground until one officer began to chase it with a restraining pole. The dog never bit or harmed anyone. A complaint was made simply because it ‘growled’.
Another citizen, Marietta Robinson, had the police come to her home executing a warrant naming her grandson, who hadn’t been living in her home for years. Robinson asked the police if she could put her dog in the bathroom, which they allowed. During the search the police entered the bathroom and shot eight rounds at the dog.
The Simmons, one a professional dog trainer, had the police enter their home on June 17thof 2013, to execute a warrant for an expired vehicle registration. The police happened to be in the wrong town, and the name on the warrant read ‘Neal Simpson’, not ‘James or Renata Simmons’. The police reportedly walked around the rear of the property when they saw the Simmons therapy dog, Vinny, playing and running free with another dog in his fenced area. The officers shot at Vinny three times, with one shot hitting him in the back of the neck. According to police spokesperson Lt. Derral partin, the dogs were ‘growling’ and ‘closing the distance very quickly’, the Lieutenant unsurprisingly defended the officer who fired the shots, stating that it is the policy of the department to use lethal force on any animal they think are attacking:
“We’re trained to fire until the threat is stopped.”
– Lt. Derral Partin
Scout, shot by police in 2012
Read more here