Gwinnett Cops too stupid to read warrant correctly kill the family dog:
A family in Gwinnett County was outraged Wednesday night after they say police officers shot their beloved dog. The homeowners said the incident happened because police went to the wrong house.
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The homeowner said when police went into the garage she heard three shots. The homeowner said an officer told her they shot the dog and the dog ran off.
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Officer said they were looking for a material witness in a gang member’s trial, but they entered the wrong home. Police entered 1468B, instead of 1468A.
Officers said the dog charged and the officer felt he was in imminent danger and shot the dog.
Of course, one might wonder why the hell these thugs with badges were breaking into the garage if they only needed to talk to a witness. But one shouldn’t question police tactics or how many innocent people are killed by incompetent, corrupt or rogue cops. After all they are protecting the children (at least when they aren’t shooting the children).
HT: The Agitator
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Is this the same police force that used a no-knock warrant to mistakenly bash in the door of the residence of a man, wife in sleeping baby, and throw the guy to the floor, instead of the intended residence a couple doors away? In that case illiteracy wasn’t any excuse, the intended residence having been under observation by the agency for months.
They are only human. Yes, they make mistakes and I am sure the dog owners will sue for millions to help with the ‘pain of their lost”. But to call them “thugs with badges” is a bit much, and the “shooting children” part is over the line.
My brother is a Captain with Dekalb and my brother in law is with Gwinnett Sherriff Dept. (his brother is with Gwinnett Police). All of them are good men and great officers.
It sounds to me like you have some issues, Chris.
BTW – if the dog was on a chain or in a cage, like the law requires, it would not have charged the officer and would not have been shot.
umust –
The dog was in the f–king garage that the thugs with badges broke into. I’m not gonna keep my dog chained up in my own house just on the off chance come jack-off cop is gonna bust down the door.
UMBK:
You’re right that mistakes happen even with the best training and intention, and I heartily agree with you on the “thugs” comment. It seems the dog was within a garage where chain or cage is not required. You imply it was the owner’s fault (which it wasn’t even if the dogs were in the yard unchained or caged), and that they’ll profit handsomely from it too, neither of which is yet in evidence (but time may tell).
UNBK,
Don’t you go blaming the family or excusing the negligent action by a bunch of ignorant cops who can’t even read a GD search warrant correctly. “Thugs” might be too kind a word for these incompetent creeps. I hope they sue your hallowed Dekalb County and the officers individually. Cops like that better learn to do their job correctly or maybe one day they’ll break down the door of a homeowner who is armed and who shoots them in an attempt to defend his family. Tragic possibility? Of course, but nothing will happen to the homeowner in this situation. Especially if the warrant is of the “no knock” variety where the officers just bust in without announcing their presence. Former federal law enforcement here and I have no patience with incompetence among fellow officers.
Officers of the law have a high responsibility, i.e. enforcing the law. There is no room for these kinds of mistakes. I agree completely with ‘Dave’, there is a possibility of an officer getting killed because of “mistakes”. With the power of the law comes a great responsibility. Officers should know what they are doing at all times, NO MISTAKES!
“My brother is a Captain with Dekalb and my brother in law is with Gwinnett Sherriff Dept. (his brother is with Gwinnett Police). All of them are good men and great officers.”
Which really says nothing whatsoever as to whether there are bad cops or stupid cops.
Chris
Was the garage door open? If so, the officers may have been walking up to the house when he saw the dog come towards him. There isn’t enough written about this story. All I was trying to point out is not all police are bad. You obviously have a bad taste for officers. You assume they are all doing something wrong. You weren’t there and you still jump straight into ” thugs with badges were breaking into the garage”.
This is the story from Fox 5
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. (MyFOX ATLANTA) – A family in Gwinnett County was outraged Wednesday night after they say police officers shot their beloved dog. The homeowners said the incident happened because police went to the wrong house.
Police were in her drive, homeowner said she heard three shots. Homeowner came outside, homeowner told her they shot the dog and it ran off.
The dog was found dead Wednesday morning at a neighbor’s home
Looking for a gang member wanted by police for felony obstruction was a material witness in a murder trial.
Police said they were given the address of 1468 by the individual wanted by police. Police said there were two free-standing homes located 50 yards apart with the same address.
Homeowner said police went to the wrong home because they had incomplete information.
Officers said the dog charged and the officer felt he was in imminent danger and shot the dog.”
This story says the officer was in the driveway NOT breaking in, as you put it.
Game – They ARE good officers and good men!
F the police! 911 is a joke in your town!
Wasn’t sure if you were just talking about the several people you know or super-imposing your own experience onto the entire departments that you mentioned. Because if your trying to say there aren’t a few bad apples, it’s just a little hard to accept.
Game
I know there are some real @ssholes out there but just because a mistake is make everyone should not rush to burn them at the stake. Honest mistakes do happen.
When cops are stupid or make honest mistakes, , it usually costs lives. I am sorry but because of their inabilty to read a beloved family dog is dead. They should be fired!!! I would be most interested in the type of dog it was..
If I were that homeowner, I would be calling for them to be fired and raising hell!! It says they entered the wrong home.
“The homeowner said when police went into the garage she heard three shots. The homeowner said an officer told her they shot the dog and the dog ran off.
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Officer said they were looking for a material witness in a gang member’s trial, but they entered the wrong home. Police entered 1468B, instead of 1468A.”
Debbie
The dog was a vicious dalmatian. Obviously a threat.
Debbie – you’re reading clips from The Agitator. Google the story to get more info. The story I read said the officers were in the driveway, so the garage must have been open. I hate that it happened. I am a dog lover but that doesn’t make these cops bad.
Chris – you sure do have a lot of hate for the police. Are all cops bad in your eyes or do you just look for the bad in everyone?
Dalmations are not agressive and the Dalmation was on its property. The police were tresspassing and should be charged with animal cruelty!!
The cops did not exercise due diligance to make sure they were at the correct address. They did not do their job correctly!! They did not feel the need to make sure they were at the correct address and their incompetance put lives at risk. They should not be allowed to continue in law enforcement if their judgement is that bad and they don’t feel the need to follow proper procedure they were taught in law enforcement training.
If they are not fired, then how are we, the public, supposed to feel safe knowing there are such imcompetant police on duty? How can we rest at night not knowing whether or not some over zealous police officer might break down our door thinking they were at a different address? Punishment of these officers needs to be swift and harsh in order to restore the pubublic trust. It does not need to be brushed under the table and it is our duty as citizens to see that it is not.
Make no mistake , as a Gwinnett County citizen, I will be on the phone first thing in the am demanding their badges and I urge others to do the same!!
What if a child was playing with a toy gun? This easily could have been an even greater tragedy!
I just watched the video about the incident. The GPD spokesman was very arrogant and acted like his officers did no wrong and he tried to place the blame on the home owners. What an arrogant egotisical a$$.
Made me even angrier. This is the same GPD that jailed someone with Operation Rescue over holiday last year because they had a billboard the GPD found offensive on their truck.
http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/myfox/MyFox/pages/sidebar_video.jsp?contentId=8094786&version=1&locale=EN-US
umust
I’m not a big fan of the whole “thin blue line” concept. Personally I’d prefer a more “performance based” approach. For example, I think “the first guy through the door” should get a bonus or something. I really think former football players and ex military are top notch. Except for the idiots. You gotta be smart too.
Debbie
He was not arrogant, unless that is what you were looking for.
umustbekidding,
Yes, he was arrogant and egotistical. I don’t live in Gwinnett, and I don’t have any relatives who are cops, so I can look at this with an unbiased viewpoint. Apparently an informer forgot to tell the police that there was an A and a B with the same address. Amazing that the informant told the post office, but failed to tell the police. So the police are at the wrong house, shoot a 2 year old dalmation (by the way, large dogs don’t realy mature until 18-36 months, so this one still had some puppy in him) who is in the middle of eating, and it is the owners fault?
Get real.
The main phone number for the Gwinnett Police Department is 880 513 5000. I urge everyone to call this number today and complain about the incident. The officers should be charged with animal abuse.
I wonder if the District Attorney or Solictor General can open an investigation into this if they receive enough complaints? It is clear that the Gwinnett PD is just sweeping this under the rug.
It is clear that the Gwinnett PD is just sweeping this under the rug.
That, UMBK, is the big reason I don’t like cops (as a group). I’m sure some of it is the nature of people who go into that line of work. I’m sure more of it is what happens to people once they do go into that line of work. Really, I place a lot of blame on the ass-hat politicians who want to “get tough on crime” by making everyone criminals then just using a shotgun approach to enforcement.
I don’t think these cops should lose their jobs over this, nor be prosecuted. One to two years of desk assignment is probably enough to send a message of “be more careful”.
The whole “fear of dogs” doesn’t seem like a good combo with police work. Unless you’re behind a desk of course. The gas company can’t have meter readers that are overly afraid of dogs. Why would they hire and train cops that are afraid of dogs?
I would agree with desk assignment instead of firing, but that likely is not going to happen. In fact, nothing likely will happen if left up to the Gwinnett PD. Just listen to the arrogance of the Public Affairs guy that made the statement. The Gwinnett PD doesn’t see that anything was done wrong by their officers. .
If the officers face criminal charges then they would be forced to re-assign them to desk duty or fire them.
How can the officers be afraid of a Dalamation? They carry pepper spray, why did they not use that? It is clear that they thought they were above the law and could just go around shooting dogs to make a point. I am sorry but they violated the law and should be punished.
Imagine being a law abiding citizen having just fed your beloved family pet. All of a sudden you hear gun fire in your garage and you run outside to find police in your garage and your beloved pet missing. Your pet has never shown aggression toward anyone but the police tell you they felt threatened by your dog and shot him. How would you feel?
The police chose expediency over life in this case and in doing so killed a family pet. If they make bad judgements like that then they are a danger on the streets and they are a danger with that type of authority.
Mistakes do happen, but frequency of mistakes with warrants seem to be unacceptably high. No knock warrants shouldn’t exist unless an office an maintain a 100% ratio of good execution of those warrants. That’s already been blown by most places..
Dalmatian – as a breed, are normally very sweet & somewhat shy animals. I personally have met one or two that would happily tear your throat out if they were P.O.ed at you. They are like any other breed – bring em up right & they act right.
I don’t believe the cops. They have OC spray for dogs, not bullets. Particularly one dog. I might can see if a group of strays decided some beat officer had stepped into their turf and they were gonna do something about it. Otherwise – zero reason to shoot at a dog that’s not foaming at the mouth & chewing on some child. Zero.
Gwinnett county ordinance is:
10-29 – “Dogs must be kept on-leash, restrained, or under control both on and off the owner’s property.”
I don’t agree with the shooting but I am willing to give the officer the benefit of the doubt. Everyone here is inserting their own spin on how this happened;
“thugs with badges were breaking into the garage ”
“the dog was within a garage where chain or cage is not required”
“I am sorry but because of their inabilty to read a beloved family dog is dead. ”
The article did not say the dog was in the garage, it said the owner “heard shots from the garage”. It was open, the officer never broke in. The officer was going to a possible gang members house. He may have had his gun drawn already when the dog ran at him. If you have your gun out, you don’t put it back to pull out the almighty pepper spray!
The Gwinnett spokesman states that there was only an address, no A or B listed. The houses were not marked either. The officer could read, it was the lack of writing that was the problem.
If you want to blame the officer, fine. I am going to give him a chance to explain what happened before I burn him at the stake with the rest of you.
So hear are my thoughts
Where are the Senators and Representatives from Gwinnett calling for someone’s head. The GOP needs to start cleaning its own house
And why hasn’t there been a single comment from the county commission or the chairman? This is a police chief who works at the pleasure of the commission.
We all laugh at Vincent Fort for his stunts to get on the TV and we should. But when mistakes are costing lives, thankfully this time it was a dog and not an old lady, or citizens are being held at gunpoint by the same group and the GOP sits on their collective hands it is a tacit approval of this behavior. This is why the GOP is becoming a joke.
A conservative should stand up and say enough is enough. If you party folks who wear the banner as a cloak to hide your cowardice won’t stand up to those putting citizens at risk then you need not serve. The time for that kind of mamby pamby leadership is over. It is time conservatives step up, call it as it is, and take the party back to where it belongs, WITH and FOR the CITIZENS.
According to what I read, the homeowner had the dog in the garage. The door was probably closed and the police with their no knock warrant opened the door, startled the dog and the dog started running outside like most dogs do when they have a chance at escape. The police panicked and shot the dog. Again they exercised poor judgement and should not be on the street. Why on earth would the owner keep a Dalamation in an open garage door? They knew the dog would escape. Does not make sense. The Police are just trying to cover their butts.
No where in the article does it say the garage was opened. Tell me, umbk, do you work for the Gwinnett PD or know someone that does? You are trying to justify the shooting by siting that ordiance. Do think the Gwinnett PD should go around shooting dogs that are off the leash or running free?
Keep in mind, they were just to question a material witness, not arrest a violent fugitive.
Debbie
Look at the video – the garage is open, she might be one of those people who always leaves it open. You sure do read a lot into this. There was nothing written about opening the garage or breaking in.
And, yes, they were there to question a material witness, not arrest a violent fugitive but it was a witness in a GANG trial. They should be cautious because that person could be a gang member or maybe there could be other gang members there, PO’d that their friend is on trail. You just don’t know.
No, I do not work for the GPD. Yes, I do know polenty of officers but not the one here.
UMBK
This would not be so bad had it not been just a couple of weeks ago that the same group of fools burst into the wrong house and held a family and young child at gun point. Certainly mistakes happen but when they seem to be continuous then you must look at the leadership and wonder why they are still there. These men while probably very honorable, had poor leadership, poor training, poor planning and poor execution. I think even you must be able to see that.
Just some thought – you are right. I agree with you.
I just think some are jumping to conclusions. They are ready to throw the officer in jail and throw away the key.
The home owners need to call the cops and report this incident as if a normal person had shot the dog. The police will have to file a report on their own officers. How about an allegation of criminal trespass and the commission of a crime while in possession of a firearm? Since they were not on the correct property, they were not lawfully there. In the performance of their duties you say? Who gives a s**t, file the charge anyway. How about animal cruelty? The homeowners could stir the pot a little and make Dekalb PD’s life miserable. Where is the ASPCA on this? Make them aware of it and let the animal advocates get involved. And finally, get the best lawyer you can who specializes in suing cops and unleash him on these idiots.
Dave, it happened in Gwinnett County.
UMBK, The garage door was probably opened because the news media was doing a news story on the fact the dog was being fed in the garage. You give FAR TOO much benefit of a doubt to the PD. I did send the story to different animal activist groups to stir up the pot!!!
good for you
Sorry, Deb. You are correct!
Have none of you put on your tinfoil hats this morning?
The police killed a Dalmation. Dalmations are known far and wide as the mascot of the fire department.
With local governments facing budget cuts across the board, this is nothing more than a literal shot across the bow from the police to the fire department about who they expect to take the larger share of the cuts.
Case closed.
I think a thorough investigation needs to be done by law enforecment other than the Gwinnett PD. It is clear that the Gwinnett PD is trying to just sweep this under the rug and hopes it just fades away. If the animal cruelty law was broken then they need to be prosecuted.
Send in the GBI for an independent review. The cops screwed up in the fact that they killed a family pet. Although misguided, these days folks care far more about animal abuse and cruelty than they do these types of acts done on people. This issue is far from over,
Dave – The police were at the right address, there were to houses there, A and B. Neither marked! That is not trespassing.
What about the leash law? Should that be ignored?
Believe it or not, dalmations have attacked. Look it up.
“Two houses” – it should read
If conservatives are going to be outraged by job security in the UAW, then why not show the same concern with police? Sure they’re going to close ranks around their co-workers. And the best cops are least likely to rat out their partner, even if they’re an idiot. It would be bad for morale. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esprit_de_corps
But privately, they may not like working alongside a “quickdraw canine killa”.
Sorry, UMBK, they were not at the correct address. A, B, C or D. Who cares? They got it wrong. That part has already been admitted. But you go on defending the negligent acts of your police buddies. Leash law, schmeash law. It could be argued and successfully so in front of a sympathetic jury, that the dog was defending it’s territory. My bet is that the dog’s behavior wasn’t aggressive in the least, rather it was running toward the officer in order to receive attention. This highly trained officer of the law, this real-life David Caruso, probably crapped his pants and even though he was of Gwinnett’s Finest, overreacted and shot the poor animal. Let’s let a civil jury decide if that was negligent behavior. I’m betting on a rather large civil judgment in favor of the family.
Aren’t some Dalmations deaf or is this just an urban legend? If he/she were deaf, this would explain the canine’s failure to comply with the officer’s command:
“Lay down on the floor and put your paws behind your back.”
UMBK, you are really grasping at straws tryint to defend your buddies in the Gwinnett PD. Leash law? The Dalmation was secured in the garage until your Police buddies opened the garage door.
As far as civil penalties, if I am not mistaken, loss of a pet carries very minimal financial recovery in a civil case. I don’t believe the owner would be eligible for pain and suffering.
Dave, I do agree with your assessment of the event. Barney Fife comes to mind when I think of these cops that shot the dog…
I used to do animal rescue and fostered a Dalamation for a few months until a home could be found for her.
She was the most docile dog and got along with my cats. The thought of some Barney Fife cop shooting one because they could infuriates me…
Deb,
What I would be counting on if I took this case in front of a jury would be their desire to punish the cops for sheer stupidity and dole out a ton of money for pain and suffering. We both might be surprised at their generosity. We’d have to make sure UMBK didn’t try and sneak on the jury like the anti-death penalty folks did on the Nichols case. LOL!
The Chance of success may be “spotty” at best. But that’s no reason to lay down and roll over.
I thought that Georgia Law severely limits the award for animals and for pain and suffering for loss of an animal. Any lawyers care to comment?
I’ll see your spotty and raise you:
I can think of “101″ different reasons why a jury would be sympathic to this kind of a civil case.
I’ll preface this by saying that I am a Police officer…
I hate when people Monday morning quarterback an officer’s action based on a small incomplete and quite often inaccurate news report. It too often is biased, intentionally trying to make the officer look negligent or make his actions criminal.
I hate it for the family and their dog. Its truly terrible. However, as for me and my fellow officers; We are going home at 6 o clock.
I will give this opinion based on the information that we’ve all seen. It appears that the officers were checking the residence for a wanted person who was also a witness to another crime. It sounds that the residence was a duplex or apartment style residence. It is very possible that the building was not marked except for the house number. In my jurisdiction, we are doing good if one or two houses per street are numbered; even better if they are numbered correctly. Btw, if the dog charged the officers, by all means do what is necessary to defend himself and the other officers because like I already said, we are going home at 6.
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