Posted on 01/03/2003 4:20:59 PM PST by Copernicus
'Felony stop' leaves family traumatized
Mary Jo Denton
Herald-Citizen Staff
It was the most traumatic experience the Smoak family of North Carolina has ever had, and it happened yesterday afternoon as they traveled through Cookeville on their way home from a vacation in Nashville.
Before their ordeal was over, three members of the family had been yanked out of their car and handcuffed on the side of Interstate 40 in downtown Cookeville, and their beloved dog, Patton, had been shot to death by a police officer as they watched.
****************************
About that time, he heard the officer broadcast orders over a bullhorn, telling him to toss the keys out the car window and get out with his hands up and walk backwards to the rear of the car.
Still not knowing what he was being stopped for, Smoak obeyed, and when he reached the back of the car, with a gun pointed at Smoak, the trooper ordered him to get on his knees, face the back of the car and put his head down.
When he did that, the officer handcuffed him and placed him in the patrol car. Then the same orders were blared over the bullhorn to "passenger" and Pamela Smoak got out with her hands up, was ordered to the ground, held at gunpoint, and handcuffed. Next, Brandon was ordered out and handcuffed in the same way.
Terrified at what was happening to them for no reason they knew, the family was also immediately concerned about their two pet dogs being left in the car there on the highway with the car doors open.
"We kept asking the officers -- there were several officers by now -- to close the car doors because of our dogs, but they didn't do it," said Pamela Smoak.
And as the officers worked in the late evening darkness, their weapons drawn as the Smoaks were being handcuffed, the dog Patton came out of the car and headed toward one of the Cookeville Police officers who was assisting the THP.
"That officer had a flashlight on his shotgun, and the dog was going toward that light and the officer shot him, just blew his head off," said Pamela Smoak.
"We had begged them to shut the car doors so our dogs wouldn't get out, and they didn't do that."
As the dog was heading out of the car toward the officer, "we had yelled, begging them to let us get him, but the officer shot him," she said.
Grieving for their dog and in shock over their apparent arrest for some unknown crime, the family could only wait. At one point, one state trooper did tell them they "matched the description" in a robbery that had occurred in Davidson County, Pamela Smoak said.
The ordeal went on for a time after that, the family terrified and in grief over the dog.
Excerpted-Click here for complete account
I don't know what these people are taught in the Academy, but someone needs to find out.
Yes, the Fallacies Index, for the few, the polite, the rational, and the intelligent
Best regards to all,
This case ought to be worth a pretty hefty civil lawsuit - if not worth criminal charges for wrongful arrest, deadly menacing, use of a firearm in commission of a crime of violence, conspiracy, and a few others besides.
After all, they are bastards who equated the life of a K-9 dog with that of a police officer (and got corresponding laws passed in many states), so the sword should cut both ways.
Best regards,
I don't know what the Academy is teaching them either. But I do know a lesson that life can teach them.
Sometimes, otherwise law abiding people are forced to obtain justice outside the courtroom.
American police routinely shackle everyone in the vicinity. It's for their own protection you know.
Sorry, I couldn't help it
Is it still to soon to shoot the bastards?
My guess would be two weeks paid suspension.
Problem is, you and I have to pay the bill for the suit. They need to be held personally responsible. Maybe privately so....
One of FR's rabid wod Goons is a NC cop. Wonder if it was him.
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.