Yet another questionable dog shooting by a LEO?

[Pacifist]

A Harris County family is devastated over the death of their beloved boxer, which was shot by an off-duty Houston police officer.

For some reason, I'm leaning towards the 12-year-old's account of the killing: http://www.khou.com/news/cnn/HPD-office ... 72271.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Jumping Frog]

Condon said he, his wife and their dog suffered injuries, which were documented by the Precinct 4 Constable’s Office.

“I have owned dogs and have been an animal lover my entire life. The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt an animal, especially someone’s pet,” Condon said in a statement.

Assuming the paper has a passing resemblance to the truth, if there is evidence the other dog injured the man, his wife, and his dog, then he was certainly justified in shooting that other dog.

End of story, next?

[EEllis]

Condon said he, his wife and their dog suffered injuries, which were documented by the Precinct 4 Constable’s Office.
“I have owned dogs and have been an animal lover my entire life. The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt an animal, especially someone’s pet,” Condon said in a statement.

Well if he (the off duty officer) is lying it should be easy enough to prove. Also a bit of a pet peeve of mine is people who can't and don't control their animals. This boxer may have been harmless but I witnessed a dog attack years ago from a pet that "got out" the front door past 2 kids. It mauled a little girl very badly. things like that stick in your head.

Also of note is the breed of dog. Many will say how friendly and playful boxers are and they are not necessarily wrong but boxers have a strong prey drive and an extremely high energy level. They, like all mastiff breeds are also very protective.They almost universally like to run and jump on people and will chase anything that moves. These are a mastiff breed with a devastating bite so if you don't know the dog and it's running up to you......

I'm assuming this is the full sized 60lb Boxer not a smaller dog.

[Pacifist]

Condon said he, his wife and their dog suffered injuries, which were documented by the Precinct 4 Constable’s Office.

“I have owned dogs and have been an animal lover my entire life. The last thing I would ever want to do is hurt an animal, especially someone’s pet,” Condon said in a statement.

Assuming the paper has a passing resemblance to the truth, if there is evidence the other dog injured the man, his wife, and his dog, then he was certainly justified in shooting that other dog.

End of story, next?

Well, golly gee, if both the off-duty HPD killer and an honest-to-goodness HC Constable (and, living in the Harris County area, we are both well aware of the squeaky-clean image of the HC Constable's offices, right?) corroborated the off-duty HPD killer's story, then I guess you're right---end of story. Thanks for putting a quick end to this developing story.

[psijac]

"And he was screaming and crying, and the cop just had the gun in his hand saying, ‘It’s OK, I’m a cop,’” Kim Fitzhenry said.

Bad cop thinks its fine that he has the power of life and death because he is a cop. It think this is not okay

[talltex]

Don't have enough details to form an opinion in this case, but it sure happens alot in Houston...according to their own statistics, officers have shot 228 dogs there from January 2010 thru 2012

[EEllis]

Don't have enough details to form an opinion in this case, but it sure happens alot in Houston...according to their own statistics, officers have shot 228 dogs there from January 2010 thru 2012

I do have to say that we also have a real issue with roving dogs here in town. Lots of people, and my neighborhood is real bad about it, just let their dogs loose to come and go as they please. There are several packs of dogs that run in the area and if I was ever had one of them run at me I wouldn't be waiting a bit to shoot. Read the first link. A boxer and a chocolate Lab put Two women and a firefighter in the hospital.

"My dogs aren’t aggressive dogs. I don’t exactly understand what transpired while I was asleep. I have no idea," Pena said. "If they attacked anybody, maybe they were just scared because they were out. Generally, they are just inside dogs."

Very little tolerance for that kind of crap.


http://www.khou.com/news/local/Firefigh ... 01251.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/sugar_la ... 80801.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.click2houston.com/news/Resid ... index.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/kingwood ... 51d04.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas ... 714123.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[texanjoker]

"And he was screaming and crying, and the cop just had the gun in his hand saying, ‘It’s OK, I’m a cop,’” Kim Fitzhenry said.

Bad cop thinks its fine that he has the power of life and death because he is a cop. It think this is not okay

That or you have the off duty LEO that is minding his own business on a walk with his wife and dog and they are attacked by a loose dog and he is was trying to relieve the child's fear by saying he was a leo..

Condon said he, his wife and their dog suffered injuries, which were documented by the Precinct 4 Constable’s Office.

[VMI77]

On the face of it, if you accept the account of the officer, it seems justified. However, it's getting harder and harder to believe police accounts of their behavior, as they get caught lying over and over again again, though usually only when it turns out someone had a recording device they didn't know about. Without some kind of evidence it's impossible to determine if the cop in this instance was in the wrong.

The 12 year old is emotionally involved, and people, including adults, sometimes minimize the bad behavior of their dogs. OTOH, I've also been surprised by people who have dogs, and you'd think would be dog lovers, who have no patience or tolerance for anyone else's dog. But then again, OTOH, it sure seems like this officer was pretty quick to pull the trigger. My wife and I were walking our 150 lb Great Dane one evening when two dogs literally jumped through the screen covering an open 2nd story window and rushed our dog. Somehow, as I tried to get my Great Dane under control, my little 5'4" wife managed to pull off the other two dogs and keep them separated while I got our dog away to defuse the situation --and all without shooting any dogs or sustaining any injuries (and they weren't tiny dogs either....but about pitbull size, though I don't know what the breed was). It sure seems like a lot of police officers are irrationally afraid of dogs, since virtually all these shootings are by police officers --not letter carriers, UPS drivers, meter readers, and salesmen.

[Charles L. Cotton]

. . . since virtually all these shootings are by police officers --not letter carriers, UPS drivers, meter readers, and salesmen.

This is an issue I've wondered about for a while. All of the people you listed come in contact with far more dogs than do LEOs, but we don't see or hear a lot of reports of them being mauled. Apparently, as others with extensive experience with dogs/training have indicated, the likelihood of being seriously injured (perhaps injured at all) is very low or we would see more reports.

Chas.

[RHenriksen]

. . . since virtually all these shootings are by police officers --not letter carriers, UPS drivers, meter readers, and salesmen.

This is an issue I've wondered about for a while. All of the people you listed come in contact with far more dogs than do LEOs, but we don't see or hear a lot of reports of them being mauled. Apparently, as others with extensive experience with dogs/training have indicated, the likelihood of being seriously injured (perhaps injured at all) is very low or we would see more reports.

Chas.

Couple of hypotheses could come into play here with this correlation:

The 'if the only tool you have is a hammer, then every problem begins to look like a nail' phenomenon (cop+gun = shoot the dog). All those other job descriptions probably ban the employees from carrying a firearm in the course of their work day.

Dogs pick up on queues from people that humans can't detect. Perhaps LEO emit a more menacing vibe/scent/etc that tends to elicit a more aggressive reaction from canines than the postal worker, UPS driver, etc?

[texanjoker]

On the face of it, if you accept the account of the officer, it seems justified. However, it's getting harder and harder to believe police accounts of their behavior, as they get caught lying over and over again again, though usually only when it turns out someone had a recording device they didn't know about. Without some kind of evidence it's impossible to determine if the cop in this instance was in the wrong.

The 12 year old is emotionally involved, and people, including adults, sometimes minimize the bad behavior of their dogs. OTOH, I've also been surprised by people who have dogs, and you'd think would be dog lovers, who have no patience or tolerance for anyone else's dog. But then again, OTOH, it sure seems like this officer was pretty quick to pull the trigger. My wife and I were walking our 150 lb Great Dane one evening when two dogs literally jumped through the screen covering an open 2nd story window and rushed our dog. Somehow, as I tried to get my Great Dane under control, my little 5'4" wife managed to pull off the other two dogs and keep them separated while I got our dog away to defuse the situation --and all without shooting any dogs or sustaining any injuries (and they weren't tiny dogs either....but about pitbull size, though I don't know what the breed was). It sure seems like a lot of police officers are irrationally afraid of dogs, since virtually all these shootings are by police officers --not letter carriers, UPS drivers, meter readers, and salesmen.

True, but letter carriers, UPS drivers, meter readers and salesman do not carry guns and are not trained to stop a threat.... mail carriers get bit all the time. My friend likes it as she gets a nice $$ each time.

[texanjoker]

. . . since virtually all these shootings are by police officers --not letter carriers, UPS drivers, meter readers, and salesmen.

This is an issue I've wondered about for a while. All of the people you listed come in contact with far more dogs than do LEOs, but we don't see or hear a lot of reports of them being mauled. Apparently, as others with extensive experience with dogs/training have indicated, the likelihood of being seriously injured (perhaps injured at all) is very low or we would see more reports.

Chas.

I disagree. When I worked regular LE work we responded to those dog bites and took reports. They just don't make the paper. I have a friend and she has been bit many times working postal work. She gets a nice payday each time.

[Jaguar]

. . . since virtually all these shootings are by police officers --not letter carriers, UPS drivers, meter readers, and salesmen.

This is an issue I've wondered about for a while. All of the people you listed come in contact with far more dogs than do LEOs, but we don't see or hear a lot of reports of them being mauled. Apparently, as others with extensive experience with dogs/training have indicated, the likelihood of being seriously injured (perhaps injured at all) is very low or we would see more reports.

Chas.

I disagree. When I worked regular LE work we responded to those dog bites and took reports. They just don't make the paper. I have a friend and she has been bit many times working postal work. She gets a nice payday each time.

Maybe we should pay cops to take a bite without shooting the dogs.

[gigag04]