Quote:
Originally Posted by Not Made for the South
Haha, that's the funny part. It looks like these police are at least indiscriminate in their craziness. If the family was black, how many of those protesting would care? A small number might do the opposite and protest emotionally for the police, yapping about how the family was probably on welfare and renting the home and, because of this, the police would've been completely justified in doing more than just shooting the dog!
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well, yeh thats sad but true. I could care less if they were black, white, orange or whatever there was no justification for what they did.
I found the response from the PD and now it makes sense why the one cops says "forget about the dog" the first yelp is the corgi, apparently it ran into another room the other 6 shots must have gone to the pit in the kennel
COLUMBIA, Mo. — The Columbia police chief said Monday his officers will follow tighter rules for serving drug search warrants in the college town after a video showing a botched raid -- and the shooting death of a suspected dealer's dog -- received widespread attention on the Internet.
The Columbia Police Department has been besieged by criticism from animal lovers who saw a video of a February raid in which SWAT team officers shot and killed a pit bull. A second dog, a corgi, was wounded but survived.
The dog's owner was arrested on misdemeanor marijuana charges while his wife and 7-year-old son watched. Police said they had been tipped he had felony quantities of "high-grade" marijuana.
The Columbia Daily Tribune posted a police video of the raid on its Web site May 3. By Monday, the video had logged nearly 900,000 hits on YouTube.
"We realize we did some things wrong," Police Chief Ken Burton said. "We've fixed those things. The public can be assured that a similar incident will not happen again."
The new policy requires higher-ranking police captains to approve drug search warrants rather than narcotics sergeants or SWAT commanders. Police also will consider whether the presence of children should curtail a raid and serve warrants sooner after a judge signs them.
They waited eight days after obtaining a warrant to search 25-year-old Jonathan Whitworth's home.
He pleaded guilty last week to possession of drug paraphernalia, and charges of possession of marijuana and second-degree child endangerment were dropped in a plea deal.
Monday, Whitworth's attorney said he and his wife and are considering filing a civil lawsuit against the police department over "excessive and inappropriate" use of force.
"Had these changes been in place, then maybe John and his family wouldn't have had to go through what they did," attorney Jeff Hilbrenner said.
Police said they were already considering changes to SWAT team procedures before the Whitworth bust. But Burton acknowledged the firestorm of criticism -- including a death threat sent by fax -- caught him by surprise.
"This thing has reached a crescendo, and it needs to be addressed very openly," Burton said.
He acknowledged investigators waited too long before serving the warrant, which was based on claims by two confidential informants. A Columbia police detective also found drug paraphernalia in Whitworth's trash a week before the warrant was issued.
Police noted Whitworth previously pleaded guilty to a federal conspiracy charge to distribute cocaine and marijuana and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.
The raid also drew fire from critics who pointed to a 2004 city ordinance voters approved, classifying possession of 35 grams of marijuana or less as a misdemeanor offense subject to municipal court fines of no more than $250.
The ordinance also calls for city police to direct their "limited resources ... primarily toward crimes of violence or property loss."
Deputy Chief Tom Dresner, who spent nearly a decade leading the city's SWAT unit, said Whitworth was suspected of having "several pounds" of pot, an amount not covered by the ordinance.
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