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.
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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
Where did you find this information?
The original report that quotes only the family's side of events describes the dog, called "Patton" in this article, (probably from the family's description) as a "bull dog" while the followup report with quotations from several officers at the scene described the dog as a possible Pit Bull and the Smoakes family member said his name is "General Patton."
This all seems to indicate that the dog was indeed a Pit Bull. No where did I see "boxer" cited.
Is that due to an actual higher rate of criminal activity amongst that group (policemen & -women) than the population at large, or increased attention to detecting criminal activity within that group?
Must be why the cops were laughing after they shot the dog.
Shoot first? Ask questions later? Hmmmm.
Think carefully if you wish to defend the indefensible.
The type of total control you advocate can easily create total chaos.
Based on fragmentary information about an ARMED ROBBERY these guys escalated a volatile situation. Here is a "what if" for you: What if the armed robber had taken hostages? The confrontational tactics now completely backfire and result in the unnecessary death or injury of an unknown number of innocents.
Further, remember this stop actually involved TWO vehicles, the second of which remained out-of-sight and undeployed.
What if the second vehicle had been prepared to defend the first vehicle? (Or more frightening for the Police-captured it all on videotape?)
Your "total control" evaporates into the OKAY Corral.
I'll repeat my earlier premise: this situation is a direct result of Police accepting every conceivable inappropriate, UnConstitutional assignment corrupt Politicians can create.
RICO( Racketeering Influence and Corruption) is an abomination. Seatbelt laws are an abomination. "No knock dynamic entries" are an abomination.
The job of PEACE Officers is to confine those FEW individuals who present an immediate threat.
It is not to arrest people for spitting on the sidewalk or smoking in restaurants or even dancing in the streets.
This is a hard concept for people to grasp after a century of Creeping Socialist Indoctrination.
You cannot replace moral authority with secular totalitarianism.
It just doesn't work.
Best regards,
If a state or the federal government passes a law making it a crime carrying the possibility of capital punishment to kill a police dog, Scalia can certainly vote his concience on the constitutionality of such a law. Today it is a moot point, but it does point out (to me anyway) how much power we've given to the federal government through our legislators on what is considered felony behavior.
The question of whether the approaching ATF agents fired on the Davidians' dogs has arisen from time to time--
I have no doubt that the federal agents at Waco shot the Davidian dogs. I have no doubt that either the federal agents or the Davidians fired first. I have no doubt that the dogs may or may not have been the victims of the first shots fired.
You think it's impossible to move the dogs after having been shot? When dogs are in a pack, they aren't often five in a line.
Let me see if I get this straight, under exchange of heavy gunfire - to include automatic gunfire from the Davidians - the BATF agents took the time to drag the bodies of five Alaskan Malamutes out into the compound in a line. And yes, I think Momma and her four 10 month old puppies, could very well end up being shot in a line. [sarcasm] Of course, not knowing exactly when the picture was taken, the BATF agents could have pulled the dogs out of the pen and lined them up for the picture during the truce to pull out their dead and wounded. [/sarcasm]
paramilitary law enforcement activities are a danger to a free and safe society ...
On this we totally agree! But we need to change the society, the culture and the laws that would permit, or feel it necessary to have, a militarized law enforcement capability. If the state, or federal government, want to "go to war" with an armed segment of the populace as a domestic enemy - then it should declare it and prosecute a war using the military forces at it's disposal. But it should not metaphorically declare a war and use law enforcement personnel to prosecute it, or militarize law enforcement.
Whether an officer uses deadly force during a felony stop to shoot a dog is a question (to me) of either bad judgement, bad procedures resulting in a felony stop in the first place, bad law making the suspected crime a felony, a culture gone bad where the use of deadly force by law enforcement and civilians is a real threat - a combination of the above or none of the above.
All I can say to this is that paramilitary law enforcement activities are a danger to a free and safe society, ...
I agree. This felony stop doesn't rise to that level in my mind, where Ruby Ridge and ESPECIALLY Waco did. Paramilitary law enforcement units used in the drug war often do also, IMO.
This is not a good source, here's a better one.
Agent Kris Mayfield, who was in Ballesteros' team, said he heard the first shots from the northwest end of Mount Carmel, not from the front door.56/ Kevin Richardson, in the same team, also first heard shots from the northwest corner of the building.57/ Their testimony suggests that the first firing might well have come from helicopters, as several Davidians claim.I will certainly admit that once the gunfire started at the Waco compound, shots were fired indiscriminately by both sides and any perceived threat (dogs or otherwise) were targeted.Two members of the dog team, right behind the first team, also told different stories. Robert Champion claimed that after testing his fire extinguisher, he heard gunfire from the front door. Both he and agent Steven Willis shot back. Clay Alexander first heard gunfire from the second story of Mount Carmel, to the right of the front door.58/
Some speculated an agent exiting the first cattle trailer truck, which stopped near the tornado shelter, accidently shot the first shot which entered into the second trailer truck behind it. Agent Mike Curtis, who was driving the second truck, reluctantly testified that as he stopped and jumped out of his truck, a bullet came through the front window and straight out the back, as if fired from the cattle trailer in front of him.59/ Source
HOW SAD!! I hope these heartless cops at least lose their jobs...
It is legal to carry a loaded pistol anywhere in your car in Mississppi, peacable journey provision. Not sure if all the cops know the law however.
How do you do that? And more signally, how do you tell the difference? Ever read "Serpico"?
Why is it that Serpico was shot by his "brother" cops and left for dead just because he wouldn't accept the protection money the other cops all were taking?
Simply because they saw him as a threat because he refused the corrupted cash they all took willingly. Emphasis on "all."
There are people who would make great cops, but they seem not to be drawn to the job. Which leaves society in the lethal care of microsyphallic Napoleon-syndrome-terrorists with guns, badges, and the backing of the State.
And worst of all, the PUBLIC foots the bill for this tragic comedy as crime skyrockets due to the gross ineptitude of the government, the cops, the Judiciary, and The System which shoots us and our dogs.
Some deal, huh?
If you're going to label me, please use the more accurate label - misanthrope.
... the general public inherently knows and readily admits that some of the worst criminals in society are cops ...
That's an incredibly broad and omniscient statement. Thank you for bringing that to my attention, but I'll continue to hold the opinion that politicians and lawyers outrank cops - if that doesn't shatter your 1970's analogy too badly - OK?
There are people who would make great cops, but they seem not to be drawn to the job.
Uhhh, $30-40k/yr to put your life on the line doing an unappreciated job with under-educated over-androgenized peers?
And worst of all, the PUBLIC foots the bill for this tragic comedy as crime skyrockets due to the gross ineptitude of the government, the cops, the Judiciary, and The System which shoots us and our dogs.
And your contribution is whiney citizen?
Some deal, huh?
It's the one we deserve.
You are distorting the issue. The policy is NOT "shoot first" it is CONTROL FIRST then ask questions. In a potentially dangerous situation asking questions is a luxury the police cannot safely afford. Your "what if"s are beyond knowing... if the police assume beyond the information they have been given to unreasonable levels of worry over such potential escalations, the police would do NOTHING in any stop.
What an amazingly BROAD BRUSH most of the posters on this thread use to paint grafiti on our police.
The next time you find yourself on the wrong end of a criminal's wants, I suggest you call a warm hearted, hugger to come and save your life.
From watching the movie series, this seems to be Standard Operating Practice.
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