Cop goes to wrong house. Draws gun on innocent man. Murders man’s dog.
Now friends are trying to get justice.
I usually leave the puppycide blogging to Radley Balko; I can’t bear it. But this is — was — a beautiful cattle dog, and those have been so much on the blog lately.
In fact, I see Balko has blogged two puppycide cases today, including this one. The other one was also a heeler mix.
Well, the more this news travels, the better. Justice for Cisco. Stop the vicious coward cops.
ADDED: Civil Rights Examiner article with details from someone who knew Cisco. (She wrongly ID’s him as an Australian shepherd, but the heartbreaking photos tell.) Includes several types of contact information for Austin, TX, officials who are responsible for hiring the thuggish cretin.
Aww, not another one! Very sad.
You’re a nicer person than I am, water lily. I agree it’s as sad as it gets for Cisco and his best friend Michael Paxton. But I’m just frothing with rage. And frustration.
This sh*t has got to end! All this killing of innocent dogs is just a symptom of the much wider problem, but it’s such an obvious and galling one. They’ll go on about it being “a training issue” or make other excuses for the pig-thug that executed Cisco. Then — just like damn near every police force in the country — they’ll go on hiring thugs and will encourage and protect those brutes and their unconscionable behaviors until people finally, in defense of themselves and their loved ones, have no choice but to shoot back.
Oh hell. Everybody here already knows that. I just have to vent. All these puppycides twist my guts, but I love cattle dogs above all, and those photos of Cisco, dead and alive, make me think that that “officer” should be swabbing vomit off floors in a prison somewhere. And that’s about the most charitable thing I find myself wishing for him. And every, single thug like him. May they someday get the treatment they’re so eager to dish out to others.
“…..they’ll go on hiring thugs and will encourage and protect those brutes and their unconscionable behaviors until people finally, in defense of themselves and their loved ones, have no choice but to shoot back.
Oh hell. Everybody here already knows that. I just have to vent. All these puppycides twist my guts….”
Claire,
I wrote several raging, nearly incoherent rants and deleted them all before posting. Suffice it to say I feel as you do. Thank you for saying it better than I would have.
This shit has got to stop!
The Austin Chief has apologized: “”My heart goes out to him. I think if you ask everybody in the department, believe it or not, we’re animal lovers, just like everybody else,” said Acevedo.”
“Truth be told”, you’re not “like everybody else”. You’re held to a higher standard. Imagine what would happen to me if I did something similar based on me coming into someone’s yard and their dog barking at me? I’m not a big pet person. I’m being very reasonable about this and this is what I see. Officer makes a mistake with an address, Officer makes a mistake by drawing his weapon before he even clears the sidewalk and sees the dogs owner (where was the threat of fear for his life?). Next he takes a home owner under the gun, orders him to get his hands up and not to move… and get control of his dog… when he’s not even sure what’s going on or who the man is. That cop shouldn’t be allowed to drive, let alone handle a weapon.
officers dash cam:
EN — Amen. I heard about the chief’s apology a few hours ago. What utter, utter, irredeemable BS. It’s worth about as much as Janet Reno’s “taking full responsibility” for Waco. Oh, and they’re always all “animal lovers” aren’t they? Yeah — loving to use them for target practice — loving to prove their manhood by slaughtering them — loving to act like a sadistic jerk at the first bark.
I have to watch myself to keep from doing some really vile cussing here on Dave Duffy’s property. But trust me, the nastiest words you ever heard are blasting between the lines here.
I think it’s going to be a while (if ever) before I can watch that dash cam video. Just knowing that the cop pulled his gun without reason, gave Paxton two contradictory orders, then blew Cisco away … it’s enough all by itself. Thanks for the link, though. I’ll try to watch later and I’m glad it’s there for people with stronger stomachs than I have.
Yeah, that cop should never hold a responsible job anywhere, ever.
For the record, though, unless you’ve heard something I haven’t, we don’t actually know who was responsible for the cop showing up at the wrong address. Could be the officious “good citizen” who heard a loud argument and called the cops. Could be the dispatcher. Could be Officer Moron himself.
MSNBC says the 911 caller gave a wrong address.
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/17/11250094-officer-shoots-mans-dog-after-911-caller-gives-wrong-address
Same article verifies the total BS of the apology — We’re sorry your dog is dead, but we’re not sorry the officer killed it; he was just acting according to our fabulous, sacred, infallible policies.
Here’s something a tad lighter. A dog that doesn’t recognized himself.
Thanks for the laugh, Jim B. I guess that proves that some dogs are as stupid as — though less aggressive than — police officers.
Needed the laugh this evening. I’m going to close up the computer, go to bed, and read nice, harmless Maeve Binchy stories now …
I’m not so sure it matters who made the mistake on the address, it certainly wasn’t the victim or his loyal dog. Does a preseumption of innocence have any weight? The officer goes down to the right address about ten minutes into the dashcam video and neither him nor his partner could give a flying $%^& about the original objects of law enforcement affection. It couldn’t have been too serious of a call???
If I am going to wonder about anything it’s where the bullet went? In the video referenced above the, “shooter” keeps asking “is there anyone in that house there?” We could guess he’s wondering if that’s where the call was for. But I’m guessing from looking at the victims cell footage that the bullet went through the dog, struck the concrete driveway and skipped into the building. I’m also guessing he’s in violation of half a dozen policies but they’re going to cover for him like always.
Dirty bastards…
Amazing isn’t it…how meter readers, deliverymen, repairmen, and letter carriers all routinely enter people’s yards without killing their dogs? But then, if Joe the Plumber shot his customers dogs when he showed up to clean the septic tank he wouldn’t be in business for long.
The police kill dogs because they can….there are no consequences. A meter reader or a plumber has to balance the risk of being attacked against what killing a dog will do to business, and the State doesn’t allow them shoot dogs anyway. The police can just eliminate all risk of attack by killing any dog that “could” possibly be a threat, and they face no consequences. Protect and Serve has become Command and Rule.
My dad wad a mailman for quite a few years, and was never bitten. Once in a while, someone would sic a dog on him(because something they were expecting didn’t arrive). Result? A face full of pepper spray(stuff called Halt they were issued) for the dog if he appeared ready to bite(usually all bark),and a note telling the owner that if they wanted their mail, they had to go to the post office to get it until they got the animal under control. Meter readers will estimate your power/gas/water consumption if you have what they judge to be a dog that may bite. In maybe 6 years, my dad sprayed one dog. It’s unpleasant to the dog-and something they will remember-but harmless. Why not issue cops this stuff? it’s very effective, and less grief all the way around.
I don’t know why they don’t issue that stuff to the officers. I have a suspicion they’re going for “target practice” and maybe bragging rights.
“I was facing down a mean Chihuahua that I had to shoot.”
My Australian Cattle Dog is just over 1 year old.
The one thought that keeps flooding my tiny little mind is that if he had shot Cisco and the dog’s owner, there would have been no outrage. The officer would simply have said, “I felt threatened by the owner after I shot his dog.” That would have been it. No questions asked, well within training and policy guidelines.
Sigh. Probably just too darned true, EN. I still haven’t watched the entire dash cam video, but I did see a clip from a news show — enough to see that most of the action took place out of camera view. Yeah, you hear Paxton screaming, “Why’d you shoot my dog?!” All the cop would have had to do was claim that Paxton was charging at him as he shouted. Or holding a cellphone that “looked like” a gun. Or holding a wrench. Or … yeah … whatever.
“Innocent” cop. Murderous victim. Case closed. Cop probably gets an award for heroism a few months down the road.
The cops are getting more and more out of hand. When I shared this one on FB, I even got comments from my ‘law and order’ type friends (in animal rescue, you get a wide variety of friends who love animals but may have political and religious beliefs very different from yours,lol) about how ;out of control’ LE is getting…. hmmm. Nearing the tipping point, I think.
I believe most police departments issue pepper spray to their officers.
FYI, I noticed on Facebook, a place you’d never tread, that today is Radley’s birthday.
Radley’s birthday, hey? I didn’t know. Well, he’s definitely in good company.
It’s also Happy Birthday time for someone we hereabouts know and … well, not exactly love because how do you love a grubby old one-legged highly attitudinal desert rat? But he did pick an appropriate day to be born.
http://theultimateanswertokings.blogspot.com/
I just noticed that the last two comments are in the “Justice for Cisco” thread. Hope you don’t mind, Ragnar, but I’m going to take the liberty of copying them into the April 19 thread.
Two blog posts about this on LRC today:
“Dog Owners are Now Enemies of the State” http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/110242.html
“Dog Days in Austin” http://www.lewrockwell.com/blog/lewrw/archives/110273.html
Short version: 1) people upset about Cisco’s death are just hysterical nuisances; 2) the dog asked for it.