Austin Police shoot man's dog (Cisco, Mart: house, neighborhoods, live)

[zakas80]

Wow, just saw a video on the yahoo showing how an Austin Police officer responding to a domestic abuse call but shows up to the wrong house and ends shooting the mans dog while approaching them in the front of the house. The officer seemed to act overly aggressive in his approach and I feel that overreacted in his decision to use his firearm so abruptly. Really sucks, I would be devastated if this happened to my dog, feel sorry for the owner.

This event aside what is the reputation of the APD? Are they all this trigger happy and careless?

[sxrckr]

Yes, the poor dog was shot right in front of its owner, in their own backyard! So sad.

But, it was an isolated incident I think, wouldn't call them trigger-happy. We did just have a cop shot and killed by a loony in a Walmart recently, so maybe they're on edge.

[txgolfer130]

Originally Posted by zakas80

Wow, just saw a video on the yahoo showing how an Austin Police officer responding to a domestic abuse call but shows up to the wrong house and ends shooting the mans dog while approaching them in the front of the house. The officer seemed to act overly aggressive in his approach and I feel that overreacted in his decision to use his firearm so abruptly. Really sucks, I would be devastated if this happened to my dog, feel sorry for the owner.

This event aside what is the reputation of the APD? Are they all this trigger happy and careless?

In a word...yes.

[hoffdano]

After three days of news on this incident we learned:

- the wrong address was supplied by a citizen who called 911 about a domestic disturbance; that means the police officer was not at fault for going to the wrong place. Could 911 have verified the address better? I'm not sure. The citizen probably thought he/she gave a good address.

- the police officer likely did not wish to harm a dog. But the dog came at him. And the officer thought he was dealing with a domestic disturbance. He may have been tense.

- the dog was not huge nor a known aggressive breed so perhaps the officer shouldn't have feared for his life.

I don't think this incident is indicative of any particular trait of the Austin police force. It is one incident. I think it was unfortunate and probably could have been avoided. So hopefully they will revisit their procedures and make changes where necessary.

What would you have done in the same situation? My guess is that I would have first tried to deal with the dog without using my gun. If the dog didn't back off his attack after the owner came out, I would have done whatever was necessary to protect myself.

[austinnerd]

Hmm, hard to imagine this thread staying on the straight and narrow, but here goes anyway.

Based on what has been reported in the press, it looks to me like the big issue is that the officer was dispatched to the wrong house. As for shooting the dog, I can certainly understand that the time to make the shoot/no shoot decision is probably not after the dog has already attacked you, esp if there is someone you consider a danger also standing there. Since I wasn't there and there wasn't any video, I'm not in a position to say whether the officer responded in the best way possible, but I can certainly see arguments on both sides of the coin.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by zakas80

Wow, just saw a video on the yahoo showing how an Austin Police officer responding to a domestic abuse call but shows up to the wrong house and ends shooting the mans dog while approaching them in the front of the house.

I think this sad story is also a study in how taking something out of context can lead to misunderstandings. The situation was far more complex than you would know from just viewing that video.

Originally Posted by zakas80

The officer seemed to act overly aggressive in his approach and I feel that overreacted in his decision to use his firearm so abruptly. Really sucks, I would be devastated if this happened to my dog, feel sorry for the owner.

Truth be known, the cop is also quite upset. There had been several different 911 calls, reporting a domestic abuse situation where a woman was reportedly being choked, and at least one call indicated a man had a weapon. Otherwise the first responding officer might have waited for backup before entering the property.

So he was alone, anticipating violence, with no clue he was at the wrong address, when he sees a guy in the driveway, orders him to get his hands up, and then is charged by a barking dog, and responds instinctively to the perceived threat by shooting the dog. The whole thing, from opening the patrol car door to shooting the dog took about 3 seconds.

And all this was against the backdrop of another APD officer being killed without warning a week or so earlier responding to a call about a "drunk" in a WalMart; and the same day a routine traffic stop by a lone officer turning into a fight and pursuit during which the suspect briefly gained control of the cop's gun, but then was shot to death. Then that shooting was met by a near violent confrontation with community members.

So I think it was just a tragic "perfect storm" type event, following close on the heels of two tragic shootings, with everyone's emotions running high. It appears the cop was operating within APD rules, but the miscommunications apparently skewed his perception enough that the margin for judgment error was exceeded.

Originally Posted by zakas80

This event aside what is the reputation of the APD? Are they all this trigger happy and careless?

Having lived all over the country, I'd say they are somewhere in the middle, neither the best nor the worst. They do seem to me to have better transparency than a lot of others. And based on statistics, again, neither the best nor the worst. There is a perception in the poor neighborhoods that the cops are too quick to shoot, but there's also a tendency for "routine" stops and calls to be met with community violence, so it's a tough call. They do now have video recorders in all the patrol cars, so we at least have a record of how things like this really went down.

[TexasHorseLady]

I will say that I listened to that tape several times (I have a heeler myself and know that what was likely happening was that the dog was warning the cop, who in his eyes was threatening his owner, off). What I heard was the officer reacting WAY too quickly. When he later said, "Why didn't you control your dog when I told you to," casting the blame on the owner, I went back and listened a few more times. There was no way in heck that he had time to coherently tell the owner to control his dog, never mind the owner have time to react to any such instruction while with his hands over his heads obeying the cop's last instructions and with a gun pointed at him, before the trigger was pulled. The person who lost it in this situation, I'm sorry to say, because I have a great deal of respect for the police officers who literally put their lives on the line every day out there (which we've seen demonstrated very recently), but this particular officer is too emotional and has too hair-trigger a fear reaction to be allowed a weapon where there are innocent animals, never mind people, around.

[OpenD]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

When he later said, "Why didn't you control your dog when I told you to," casting the blame on the owner, I went back and listened a few more times.

As I said before, it's a heartbreak all around, but I think that legally the cop is off the hook, because in fact the dog was not in the control of the owner.

[brattpowered]

I knew Mikey and his dog, and Cisco was one of the most loyal and well-behaved dogs I've ever met. He was great around other animals and people of all ages, and was just doing what any other dog would have done if a large, loud intruder entered his yard brandishing a gun and threatening his owner.

The cop just yelled at Mike to grab Cisco and shot him instantaneously. And then yelled at Mike asking why he didnt grab the dog?? Then he lied to his superior on tape when he said he checked door to door first. We don't need someone like this "protecting and serving."

[brattpowered]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Truth be known, the cop is also quite upset. There had been several different 911 calls, reporting a domestic abuse situation where a woman was reportedly being choked, and at least one call indicated a man had a weapon. Otherwise the first responding officer might have waited for backup before entering the property.

Not too upset to lie on tape to his supervisor afterwards.

Originally Posted by OpenD

And all this was against the backdrop of another APD officer being killed without warning a week or so earlier responding to a call about a "drunk" in a WalMart; and the same day a routine traffic stop by a lone officer turning into a fight and pursuit during which the suspect briefly gained control of the cop's gun, but then was shot to death. Then that shooting was met by a near violent confrontation with community members.

If you can't handle the job, QUIT!