Posted on 04/02/2024 7:05:25 AM PDT by Red Badger
The driver’s name was Merle and she assumed that “Merle” was a woman’s name. Good thing Merle Haggard isn’t around to witness this sad episode.
Every dog not easily breed identifiable is a pit bull mix to freepers lol
You might want to hear both sides before you jump to conclusions. Her comments are more confusing than clarifying.
“Small dog?” Maybe in her mind. Sorry, but the pics on the site do not reflect a small dog. Nor do they reflect bull mastiff giant size. A reasonable person could feel some discomfiture being aggressively approached by such a dog. This one calls out for an unbiased fact finder, not the owner, to make the call. I can see why the cops did see this as a criminal issue.
You are too quick to label all of this her fault.
You have put forth a snap judgement that I see as ill considered.
While all of your criticism of her may be true (we don't know yet), it does not exonerate a man who pulled out a gun and shot an animal that has not been demonstrated to have been dangerous.
The legal system uses a concept called the "reasonable man" standard. Would a reasonable man just shoot a dog that had not actually attacked him?
I don't believe any "reasonable man" would do such a thing.
Also, is it possible this man is a Muslim and is motivated by the well known Muslim hatred for dogs? Is this in fact a hate crime perpetrated by religious extremism?
As I said, I think you are too quick to blame the woman and you haven't given enough consideration to the entire picture.
Yes, there is too much information missing, and of course people will use whatever influence they have to get what they believe to be justice when they feel they have been injured in some way.
We had a Saint Bernard when I was a kid, which was many, many moons ago.
She was 120 pounds of drooling love.
That said, her size freaked out people who had never met before.
We understood that, so whenever we had strangers arrive we’d have her stay in a bedroom until the utility guy, repair guy, delivery guy, visitor was gone.
We always did this. Our dog didn’t mind, especially of one of us kids kept her company.
It wasn’t a big deal, and everyone was happy.
Darned if I know why Ms. Harmon couldn’t be bothered to do that.
I thought everyone did
Agree! If she was that concerned about the safety of her dog, it should have been in her house or in a well-fenced yard!
BTW, anyone else have a problem with that headline...
It’s biased as bleep...
This glosses over the fact that his response was disproportionate to the actual threat.
We also do not know if the dog had been secured, but escaped, or perhaps some other circumstance.
I suspect this guy is going to wish he had simply walked away from this dog before this is over.
I agree. That dog doesn’t look “small” in that picture.
So, her dog was uncontrolled, outside, not on a leash or behind a fence.
The delivery driver was not inside her home.
This appears to be the fault of the dog’s owner. The dog’s owner was not in control of their dog.
~~~~
This. You don’t have to get bitten to have the right to defend yourself against a threat.
Law and Order my ear.
She is fortunate that the delivery man was not injured.
The legal system uses a concept called the "reasonable man" standard. Would a reasonable man just shoot a dog that had not actually attacked him?
The police, who investigated, believe otherwise.
You are assuming the dog "has not been demontrated to have been dangerous".
A reasonable man could easily shoot an aggressive dog which is showing all signs of being willing to bite him, before it actually bites him.
Most states have laws which allow people to shoot dogs which are running loose if the dog threatens them.
I find it interesting the door camera is reported to be down by the dog owner. They control any video which might exist. They have good reason to claim their is no video if it shows their dog being aggressive.
Who expects someone to shoot a dog, that from what I can see, is relatively harmless? Have you never had a dog get out of your house accidentally?
If he had kicked the dog, I could see it. Shooting the dog? Are you nuts? Unless this dog could be shown to be a serious threat to someone, shooting it is going too far.
We live semi-rural and a couple years ago some new neighbors from over a mile away let their dogs out and it killed one of our chickens. When I found out who it was and confronted them. They were surprised that they couldn’t just let them roam.
When I was a mailman in early 60’s, we actually walked door to door on 6-8 mile routes daily. No spray or other defensive items yet. I had a German Shepherd lunging through a screen door trying to get at me. I jumped a fence just in time and the house didn’t get it’s mail.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.