Posted on 05/03/2004 10:31:50 AM PDT by decimon
Muskego - Police officers responding to a burglar alarm at the wrong house shot and killed a 100-pound family dog that bounded toward them, the dog's owner said Friday. Muskego
At his mother's home Tuesday afternoon, Jacob Davida was working on his computer when he heard a knock at the front door.
With Bongo, the family's Mastiff, St. Bernard and German shepherd mix at his side, Davida opened the door to find police officers with guns drawn.
As usual, Bongo, 9, was without a leash because he didn't run off and never harmed anyone, Davida said. Bongo, with golden fur and a block-shaped head, was best friend to Davida and his four siblings. But on this day, the dog's inquisitive nature marked his downfall.
"My dog ran up from behind me toward the cop because he's a curious dog," said Davida, 24, of Madison. "I was screaming at the top of my lungs for them to stop shooting, for them to stop."
But his screams went for naught. The dog's days of walks in the park and canoe trips ended with a shot through his neck, Davida said.
"The cop just started shooting," he said. "The first bullet hit the ground close to me. The second shot hit the driveway. Then he shot and killed my dog right in front of me."
After shooting Bongo, Davida said, police officers told him that they were at his house to investigate a burglar alarm. The house, west of Big Muskego Lake, has no such alarm.
"They put that over the radio, and it came back that they had the wrong address," Davida said. "It turned out they were at the wrong place. Most of the cops left at that point to check out the actual burglary."
Muskego police Sgt. David Constantineau confirmed Friday that officers shot a dog Tuesday afternoon but said he would not release any details.
"It's under investigation," he said.
Davida finally went back to his computer programming job in Madison on Friday, but said the horror of watching his dog's death left him stricken.
"Retelling the story, I kind of shake," Davida said. "I had to break the news to each of my family members. I can't get the scene out of my head. It just plays over and over."
Bongo is to be buried on a farm in Fall River in Columbia County owned by Davida's sister and her husband.
As it turned out, the alarm came from the next-door neighbor's house. The neighbor, Robert Anderson, said nothing was taken, but the back and garage doors were left open.
To make matters worse, Davida watched the would-be burglar escape but, terrified after seeing his dog shot, didn't say anything to police.
"I saw the guy leave while the cops were interrogating me," he said. "I just assumed it was another police officer."
Hope you never have to rely on them!
Then stay out of his yard.
Stay out of my yard too, BTW. My dog doesn't have a line on him, although we do have an "underground fence". But, since you wouldn't know that just by looking at the dog, you might assume he's "running loose", and take it as license to shoot him if you don't like the way he looks at you.
That would not be good, for a variety of reasons.
It seems that there's no shortage of people who are glad to tell others how to live their own lives on their own property.
How so?
What it suggests to me is that the trespasser was operating under the "fire and keep firing until he drops" school of thought that's pounded into their heads under the modern paramilitary training regimes.
Three shots can be rapid-fired in well under a second. The modern paramilitary operative does not carefully squeeze off one round and then wait to see how the target reacts. He fires, and keeps firing, "until the threat is neutralized."
If anything is surprising, it's that only three shots were fired. What I suspect is that by the second round, the shooter had that "oh, sh!t" moment -- realizing what was really going on -- but wasn't able to stop his reflexive firing until one more round had been fired.
Yup. And I know from personal experience (I socialized with quite a few cops when I had a business that handled some of their trade) that the decent cops detest those bastards with a passion.
Dope dealers.
How come nobody is talking about how this is only his side of the story.
You can't outrun one of these dogs!
Most of them are not too bright. They hire them that way for a reason. It used to not be so, but these days it's definitely the case.
Maybe he had the 'oh-sh!t' feeling as his second shot missed the attacking dog.
I guess I was lucky. I was in a small town, and I helped them out, and they helped me out. (One time, the dog catcher -- a certifiable lunatic who ended up in the slammer after he flipped out and started shooting at cars driving past his house -- snatched my dog, and refused to release it. He had a hard on for me, for some reason I could not fathom. It took about thirty seconds of my explaining this to an off-duty friend, before a series of phone calls were made, and that SOB -- sputtering mad with rage -- was ordered to release my dog to us. It worked both ways. Another time, when there were campus riots, and they had a booking room overflowing with drunken "future leaders" -- and their ID camera busted -- I raced down in the middle of the night to fix it for them.)
And what's your take on people who twist the truth to make a point?
The dog did not attack anyone.
There were two dogs at that address???
The one in the report wasn't attacking anyone.
Right. He was shot before he could attack the cop.
Source?
I don't think so.
It is not trespassing.
The difference is that that dog was not running toward you. If it had, I bet you would have fired at least three shots.
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