Callous

On Sunday, as a part of the weekly roundup, I posted the online video footage of police officers in LaGrange, MO shooting a dog in their city.

The video is a 7 minute video that was edited from about 60 minutes of footage show police officers chasing a chained dog trying to catch it.  The dog was called a 'pit bull mix' (which is debatable from the footage) which apparently need to be licensed and muzzled in LaGrange.

After chasing the fearful dog (the dog actually spends the entire video trying to avoid the officers, not attack them) for around 60 minutes, officers finally secured the dog on a catch pole. The dog resisted the catch pole (which is common) for a bit, and then finally settled down. Upon the dog settling down, the officer drew his weapon and shot the dog twice - -killing it.

Upon the release of the footage, the mayor of LaGrange, Ronnie Powers, along with the rest of the city council, released this statement in reaction -- defending the officer's actions. Neither officer involved has been disciplined.

Here's a snippet (emphasis added):

"During the course of over 1 hour in which the officers were on scene, the dog refused to cooperate with the officers to allow for the safe transportation of the dog to the city dog pound for proper housing until the owner could be located. During this period of time, the dog continued to display aggressive and vicious propensities toward the police officers, and eventually broke the chain leash holding the animal. Following these incidents and numerous unsuccessful attempts to control the dog, the officers concern for the safety of the nearby residents, as well as themselves, became paramount and the officers were compelled to destroy the dog."

The dog had been controlled by the officer by the time it was shot.

The animal was fearful, not aggressive, and any fool who watches the video can see that.

The dog "not cooperating" with the officer with the catchpole would be a laughable statement if the ending wasn't so tragic.

It is impossible for me to even think that the mayor and the city council even watched the same video. The officer's actions were indefensible. And the mayor and council's defending it is even worse.

 

Comments

[Janice in GA]

That is an astonishingly shocking video. Why the heck are police officers w/NO CLUE doing animal control work???

Jeezopete.

[Liz]

Is there no Animal Control Department in LaGrange???

I could only watch a minute of it, but from what I saw that poor dog was showing zero signs of aggression. So, so disgusting.

Slightly OT, but made me think of a personal experience I had not long ago... A neighbor and I saw a dog wandering on/in our street. He was obviously old and seemed a bit disoriented. We called the number on his tags and the "owner" said let him go, he'd wander home. Great lady. So, my neighbor called the cops and said there was a pit bull mix wandering the streets of our "upscale" town. (This dog was a Chessie/Lab or something, but at that moment I didnt really think it mattered one way or the other.)

Let me tell you--that cop showed up in about 5 minutes. If we had called and said there was a "Lab" wandering the streets, wanna bet how long it would have taken them to show, if at all?

Luckily for us, the cop was nice, the dog just wanted some water, and we together got him back into his yard.

My scenario was obviously a non-issue, but it really opened my eyes to the "pit bull" misconceptions. I wonder how much misinformation is disseminated from within the police departments themselves? Something to ponder RE educating the public--maybe starting from within the institutions is the way to go?

[Karen]

This story has gone global, so the Mayor and his council's appallingly dishonest effort at covering the backsides of these 'cops' is going to blow up in his face.
Even non-dog people have watched that footage and recognise that poor dog is fearful and totally non-threatening.
The Emperor has no clothes, Mayor Ronnie Powers.

[lori]

Thanks for writing about this horrendous issue Brent. The world needs to know and respond. Sitting back and saying nothing and letting them slip it under the rug is the wrong thing to do. Things like this NEVER change without good people standing up..

[YesBiscuit!]

I can't force myself to watch the video - your description is heartbreaking. Dogs ensnared by a catchpole can neither refuse nor consent to allowing safe transport by police. Cos they're in a catchpole. Oh - and they're dogs.

[Jennifer Brighton]

I watched the video for a bit before I got teary and then hit the stop button. If they were there for 60 min. couldn't the time have been better spent finding someone with a tranquilizer gun? That's what they normally do with bears or cougars in my area when they become a nuisance. I hope these officers get some better training on how to deal with a situation like this. It just breaks my heart to know that poor dog was essentially tormented with fear and felt threatened right up until the end.

Thank goodness for the Internet getting these types of scenarios out to the public who needs to be aware this happens. And to you, Brent, for keeping up on these things.

[H Houlahan]

There was a cop named John Vojtas who worked for a PD in a suburb next to the one we lived in.

One 4th of July, 1995, PC and I caught a dog that was running in traffic. Very scared little dog, wearing tags, but no way was anyone reaching for her collar. Some ladies had been trying to catch her for a couple hours before we stopped, and they had called the police several times -- trying to explain that the dog was going to cause a fatal crash, zipping around Route 51 like that.

The cops arrived an hour later -- three squad cars. THREE. I had the dog tied to the door of a closed shop.

Their "leader," officer Vojtas, said that animal control was off for the holiday, and he figured he would shoot the dog. How dare we inconvenience them by securing a traffic hazard?

The two nice ladies freaked out, and PC and I promised a shitstorm of Biblical proportions if anything happened to this dog that posed no threat to anyone, and had tags, and was just scared of fireworks and traffic. Arresting me was mentioned, and I escalated the shitstorm promise with reference to who I knew in what agencies and media. By this time, a dozen witnesses.

Finally one of the other cops poled the dog and shoved her into a squad. Then they noticed that squad had no cage, so they poled her back out and into a different squad.

Nowadays this would all be on everyone's camera phones.

We followed Vojtas and his cronies back to the station to ensure that nothing happened to the dog. Made it clear we were watching, would follow up. Two educated white people with ties to the public safety community.

We didn't know about his dead girlfriend.

http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20031210sally1210ap2.asp

(And just so it's clear -- NO ONE really thinks that he "drove her to kill herself." That's not what they were covering up.)

And we couldn't have known what would happen on that same stretch of road in a few months' time:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_Gammage

Man wouldn't cooperate while they were cutting off his air supply.

Just like that little dog, tied to the doorknob, wasn't cooperating.

And that scared, chained, catch-poled bulldog -- existing most inconveniently.

[Kendra D.]

If you watch Part One, the officer is able to walk up to the dog and pet it. This is sickening.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3rxvnM_0Tw&feature=related

I am so tired of breed discrimination. I am a dog trainer and I happen to have an American Pit Bull Terrier. My dad hates pitties and when we visit him he has a gun on hip the entire time "just in case". My pittie is a Canine Good Citizen and an amazingly mellow dog but he still thinks that my dog could snap at any time and attack and kill his dog.