Posted on 01/09/2014 12:02:01 PM PST by nickcarraway
A South Carolina man who killed a police dog during a gunfight and chase has pleaded guilty and will serve 35 years in prison, officials said. Maurice McCreary, 24, admitted he fired a half-dozen shots at officers who were pursuing him after an armed robbery Dec. 16, 2011. No officers were hit but Fargo, who along with a large contingent of police was chasing McCreary.
When Fargo caught up to McCreary the dog bit him and latched on. As McCreary tried to run away he shot at the animal. Fargo survived long enough to make it to an emergency veterinarian but died later that night.
Several officers who testified at Monday's hearing became emotional when recalling that night, including Richland County Sheriff's investigator Warren Cavanagh, Fargo's handler, the State of Columbia reported.
"Who did he have that gun drawn for?" Cavanagh asked. "Yes, there was a dog that was killed, but he was killed doing his job and that was protecting these officers that night."
Eventually more than 200 officers were called in to help hunt down McCreary over a nine-hour span. He was eventually found sleeping in a shed behind a home in the area.
McCreary apologized to officers before receiving his sentence.
"Being bit by a dog, I did freak out and I did shoot at the dog," McCreary said. "I just ask that you accept my apology. It was never my intention to go out that night and shoot at officers and have a shootout."
McCreary pleaded guilty to five counts of attempted murder and one count of killing a police dog. He was sentenced to five concurrent 30-year terms for the attempted murder charges and an additional five years for killing the police dog, to be served after he completes the attempted murder sentences.
Is that the same penalty for cop who shoots your dog?
Good luck to him in the prison yard.
Why don’t officers spend 35 years in prison when they kill their dogs leaving them locked up in a hot police car?
Came for the feeble attempts at relativism, left satisfied.
Kind of reminds of the old feudal laws against hunting on the Lords land or eating from the Lords fruit trees. One law for you, another for your “betters”...
pretty misleading title. He got 5 years for killing the dog and 30 years for attempted murder of the pursuing police officers.
Misleading head line but it makes for good sensationalism.
Still, cops should not get away with their ability to kill others dogs with seemingly no price to pay.
“Is that the same penalty for cop who shoots your dog?”
You read my mind! But then we have devolved into a “society” where those who are supposed “to serve us.” abuse us and our pets routinely. I don’t wish any human being to suffer, but I am waiting for the first cop to be shot down by a dog’s owner for killing his pet.
And don’t get me started on the lunacy of the town in Florida that just “obtained” a 30,000 lb. assault vehicle from the Feds. What’s next, arming the local doughnut munchers with M-79’s?
Not even close. This scumbag wasn’t trying to scrape by by stealing a few pigeons and pears from the King’s Orchard.
He only got 5 years for the dog. The other 30 years were for attempted murder of human beings.
That's 5 more years than the police get for shooting somebody else's dog, but the cop dog worked for a living.
The headline is completely false anyway. He only got 5 years for shooting the dog.
The cops kill the citizens’ dogs every day - frequently at the wrong address, and suffer no consequences.
“Several officers who testified at Monday’s hearing became emotional when recalling that night, including Richland County Sheriff’s investigator Warren Cavanagh, Fargo’s handler, the State of Columbia reported.”
These dogs are major investments. With all the training that these dogs and their handlers undergo, their police department has 10’s of thousands of dollars wrapped up in each dog. And often times the officer takes the dog home at night... So when the officers get all weepy when one of their dogs gets injured, and I understand that.
BUT just let your dog growl at a police officer when the officer is on YOUR property... and well, let’s just say “It ain’t their dog.”
Die in a hot police car ...
Kind of sounds like cooking in HELL!
‘Roid Rage kills
cop dog worked for a living
But he did not get home safe.
BS. Cops shoot dogs all the time. If the cops thought this guy was going to shoot them he would have had 50 bullet holes in him.
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