Soon to be possible LEO contact

Kalrog · #1

Well, we had an issue with out dog and I will be going to spring her from doggy jail tomorrow and I am curious if animal control employees (officers?) are considered peace officers?

gregthehand · #2

No they aren't.

Kalrog · #3

That was my gut feeling. Thanks for confirming.

Kalrog · #4

It wasn't doggy jail - it was doggy morgue.

And the animal control folks were great. Didn't want to be there, but they did good.

KBCraig · #5

Sorry for your loss, Kalrog.

#6

They put her down after just one day?

Venus Pax · #7

Kalrog, did they put your dog down?

Kalrog · #8

No they did not put her down. The car that failed to stop after hitting her did a fine job of that. There was no intended sarcasm in my previous post at all - the animal control folks did a great job and were very helpful, even opening the facility when they were supposed to be closed to help out.

With that said, it does suck that we lost another dog this past week - we had to put one down about 2 months ago (cancer and a lot other more minor things) so we went from 2 great dogs to 0 in about 2 months time. In addition, some local middle school kids saw it happen and tried to help... but there wasn't anything to be done. These kids later found out that my wife teaches at their school so we got to hear all about it from eye witnesses.

I will be the first to admit that our dog should not have gotten out (and hadn't gotten out since a month after we moved here over 2 years ago), but to do a hit and run in front of kids is just low.

drinks · #9

Dogs and cats that are not properly confined are often killed, it is not "hit and run", it is a sensible driver not placing his person and possible passengers at risk trying to avoid an animal that should not have been loose in the first place.
There is no legal requirement to stop after hitting an animal.

dihappy · #10

Yeah, legal may not be the right word.

Moral, Courteous, Ethical, Neighborly, are some good ones.

flintknapper · #11

dihappy wrote:Yeah, legal may not be the right word.

Moral, Courteous, Ethical, Neighborly, are some good ones.

Yup!

Sorry to hear about your dog.

MoJo · #12

dihappy wrote:Yeah, legal may not be the right word.

Moral, Courteous, Ethical, Neighborly, are some good ones.

Kalrog,

I'm sorry to hear about your dog. It's tough to lose a pet.

packina45 · #13

drinks wrote:Dogs and cats that are not properly confined are often killed, it is not "hit and run", it is a sensible driver not placing his person and possible passengers at risk trying to avoid an animal that should not have been loose in the first place.
There is no legal requirement to stop after hitting an animal.

Don't be so sure. A dog is considered property, and you can be cited for leaving the scene of a property-damage accident.

Been there, done that, got the ticket.

txinvestigator · #14

packina40 wrote:
drinks wrote:Dogs and cats that are not properly confined are often killed, it is not "hit and run", it is a sensible driver not placing his person and possible passengers at risk trying to avoid an animal that should not have been loose in the first place.
There is no legal requirement to stop after hitting an animal.
Don't be so sure. A dog is considered property, and you can be cited for leaving the scene of a property-damage accident.

Been there, done that, got the ticket.

You'll have to show me Texas case law on that.

packina45 · #15

txinvestigator wrote:
packina40 wrote:
drinks wrote:Dogs and cats that are not properly confined are often killed, it is not "hit and run", it is a sensible driver not placing his person and possible passengers at risk trying to avoid an animal that should not have been loose in the first place.
There is no legal requirement to stop after hitting an animal.
Don't be so sure. A dog is considered property, and you can be cited for leaving the scene of a property-damage accident.

Been there, done that, got the ticket.
You'll have to show me Texas case law on that.

Courts have traditionally held that pets are property. It may depend on the jurisdiction or the issuing officer, but the only thing that saved me in court was that the issuing officer didn't personally witness the accident, and didn't bring a witness with him. Case dismissed. And the charge was "leaving the scene of a property-damage accident".