Felony Stop Leaves Family Traumatized

Herald-Citizen ^ | 01/02/03 | Mary Jo Denton

[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

[suijuris]

I would CLOSE THE CAR DOOR MYSELF as I got out. I would do so knowing dogs can jump out and run into traffic.

BS. Kinda of a tough decision to make as you have you hands high in the air with several officers pointing loaded guns at you. More likely you would be scared enough to pi$$ yourself and not even think about the open doors, or much worse be shot due to an "accidental" discharge if you were stupid enough to make such an "agressive" move.

[Swordmaker]

All of you make a good point. However, the hands may still be visible while you use your body to shut the door.

However, even if the door is left open, the officers probably acted properly given the information they had.

This may have been a "no win" situation for all concerned.

[Itzlzha]

Everyone here is blaming the cops for the dead dog. They do have a degree of fault here but...

Hmm, Shotgun...dog, family begging cops to close the car door... yeah, I think they bear 100% of the fault!

I, however, take another pathway on this. If I were pulled over and told to leave the car, knowing I had two unleashed dogs in the car, I would CLOSE THE CAR DOOR MYSELF as I got out. I would do so knowing dogs can jump out and run into traffic.

So, how many times HAVE you been pulled over...and disobeyed an officers orders in a FELONY STOP?!?! Make ANY move other than ones they order, and you will feel what lead penetrating flesh feels like!

Care to re-think this, laddie? Or are you being fitted for jackboots as we write?

[blackdog]

Are these the "sworn public servants" you refer to? How much quantification do you require to see where gubmint took a wrong turn in the road of governance?

[fogarty]

More cops are like this than not. I just talked with a cop the other day, a reservist in one of our subordinate units. He was talking - no joke - with another cop about how to obtain a "throwaway gun" to have in a "bad situation". When I asked him what qualified a throwaway gun, he looked at me, dead-serious, and said "one that is untraceable".

As more and more cops get into this anti-constitutional SWAT stuff, expect this to happen more and more often. Expect that the local and national authorities (ie John Ashcroft) will not do a thing.

[TaZ]

"No one thinks this is a good thing. Who would argue with you?"

So I guess we chose just assume that this is acceptable behavior for LEOs and write it off as a fluke?

The problem, as I see it, is that US citizenship has been degraded to the point where we have conditional rights, aka as priviledges.

In the beginning, there were no LEOs and citizens were responsible for protecting the country, their life, homes and families, as well as watching out for their neighbor's.

If US citizens were responsible and trained to police their own communities, there would be very little need for LEOs to watch us at every turn...we might actually be able to go back to "Officers of the Peace".

Rather than justify this as a random incident, which it is not, why not grasp the root of the evil weed and yank it out, planting a healthy tree in its place?

Of course, the reason LEOs have become empowered to trample our rights is a very deep problem, which had its start during the Civil War of 1861-1865...

[HairOfTheDog]

Yes, everybody loses...

I think the key here is that I didn't read anything about the situation, from what we know now certainly, but even from what they could have known then, that called for a felony stop in the first place.

[csvset]

Your pissing contest with other posters could be moved to e-mail. Then again, it could continue to be thrashed out here in the open where I'm sure most of us don't give a flying f*** what your beef is.

[Joe Hadenuf]

All of you make a good point. However, the hands may still be visible while you use your body to shut the door.

Again, if you are ordered out with hands up, and you use your body to shut the door, 5 people with firearms pointed at you are going to think you are attempting to conceal something in the car by shutting the door. .

That too could be a very dangerous move for the person standing and the occupants remaining in the vehicle.

[Swordmaker]

Or are you being fitted for jackboots as we write?

No, I am not a police trainee or a police officer.

I probably would NOT have had the presence of mind to close the door. If I attempted to do so, I would have been vociferously stating what I was doing.

I am aware, however, of the conditions and dangers of police work. ASSUMING innocence on the part of the driver, passengers, and dogs may have resulted in dead people, if there actually had been bad guys in the car. It is unfortunate that the dog did what dogs do. It is DOUBLY unfortunate that the officers did what officers sometimes are forced to do.

I still say the officers will be found to have acted properly given the information at hand. What would we be posting on here if the officers doing this stop had found a hijacker behind the wheel, an accomplice in the back seat and a soon to be raped woman in the passenger seat?

[Republic of Texas]

Race isn't really important to this story except for one tiny thing. If they were black, it would've been noted in the first sentence of the story, there would be national attention and "civil rights leaders" would be jumping out of their mistresses beds as fast as they could to protest in front of the fawning national media.

I can tell this family was white because race was never mentioned, and except for this site, this story will never see the light of day in the national press.

Just an observation.

[Flyer]

I didn't read anything about the situation. . . that called for a felony stop in the first place.

The person that called the police was close enough to tell there was money coming out of the wallet, but couldn't see it was a family in a station wagon? With the information the police had there is no reason this should have been treated as a dangerous situation.

[The FRugitive]

Grrr...

You can hate me all you want, but this is the reason I shed no tears when a cop gets his.

[Flyer]

ASSUMING innocence on the part of the driver, passengers, and dogs may have resulted in dead people, if there actually had been bad guys in the car.

Assuming guilt on the info from a phone call is not a good alternative.

---

Houston Area Texans

[TaZ]

"So I guess we chose just assume that this is acceptable behavior for LEOs and write it off as a fluke?"

Should have been:

So I guess we should just assume that this is acceptable behavior for LEOs and write it off as a fluke?

Sorry, still in the office and juggling two other things while revising my thoughts mid-sentence...;)

[LO_IQ]

I still say the officers will be found to have acted properly given the information at hand.

Maybe that's proper behaviour in your planet.

I disagree with killing pets unnecessarily. With so many cops around and all the passengers handcuffed eating dirt, at least one of the them could have closed the car door

[Eaker]

From galt-jw’s homepage………..

occupation: entrepreneur, business owner, herbalist…….

Perhaps this is part of the problem!!??!!

;>)

Eaker

[LO_IQ]

Your dog is just lovely.

[Bogolyubski]

Thanks for a non-hysterical comment on this thread. If the story is factual, the Smoak family has legal recourse in the form of a civil suit against the State of Tennessee, the City of Cookeville, and the individual officers involved. Making this a felony-stop was a serious error. Shooting a dog for no reason is completely pointless and displays a streak of cruelty that the pshycological evaluations given to officers should have caught but unfortunately didn't. The officer who shot the dog should probably be removed from the force, or at least from anything other than a desk job. I understand how the system is often corrupt and allows police who engage in criminal acts to skate. The Feds are the worst of all in this regard. The cases of misconduct (including obstruction of justice and possible murder) going unpunished at both Ruby Ridge and Waco should serve as a serious warning to all of us, as should numerous abuses resulting from the war on drugs.

I was not at all aware of a charge of capital murder being applied to someone who kills a police dog - you learn something new every day. Which states have this ridiculous law on the books? I can't imagine the ACLU and gang allowing anyone to actually go to jail - much less be executed - on such a charge. It is quite unfair to characterize all police as a bunch of trigger-happy bully boys out for a good time of beating up on defenseless civilians. Most are honest folks doing a very dangerous, thankless job for fairly lousy pay relative to the risk and stress. One of the problems in our legal system that needs to be addressed is in the poor definitions of felony and the subsequent response-level in arrests. Ideally, there should be a sharp difference in reponse to violent crimes and property crimes. All too often, a property crime like a stolen wallet (taken without violence or threat) is classified as a felony while physical assault is a misdemeanor.

[Republic of Texas]

The reason they didn't close the door is simple. Because the family, I'm sorry, "suspects", asked them to. By not shutting the door, they got to hear the "suspects" beg some more. This is typical behavior from insecure small people.