The Smoaks appear on CNN
Posted on 01/08/2003 11:35:54 PM PST by JohnHuang2
The Tennessee policeman who shot and killed a family's dog during a terrorizing traffic stop took just three seconds to slay the animal after it jumped out its owners' car, reports the Cookeville Herald-Citizen.
Law-enforcement authorities released a videotape of the incident yesterday, which shows the three-second time frame on the tape's counter.
The Cookeville police officer who shot the dog, Eric Hall, has since been reassigned to administrative duties while the incident is probed.
As WorldNetDaily reported, the Smoak family was returning to their home in North Carolina on New Year's Day when three police cars swarmed their vehicle on Interstate 40 in what appeared to be a traffic stop.
The Smoaks appear on CNN |
A Tennessee Highway Patrol officer broadcast orders over a bullhorn for driver James Smoak to toss the keys out of the car window, get out with his hands up and walk backwards to the rear of the car. Smoak obeyed and was subsequently ordered onto his knees and handcuffed at gunpoint. Officers similarly handcuffed his wife, Pamela, and their 17-year-old son with their guns drawn.
As the troopers were putting the family members inside the patrol car, one of the Smoak family dogs, a boxer-bulldog mix named Patton, came out of the car and headed toward one of the Cookeville officers who were assisting the THP troopers.
"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," Pamela Smoak told the Herald-Citizen. "We had begged them to shut the car doors so our dogs wouldn't get out, [but] they didn't do that."
The Smoaks had been pulled over by mistake after someone reported seeing the car getting on the highway with cash flying out from behind the vehicle. James Smoak, it turns out, had mistakenly left his wallet on the roof of the car when he stopped to get gas. Someone within the THP reportedly thought a robbery had occurred, though it turns out none had.
Hall claimed he was acting in self-defense.
"I yelled at the dog to get back, but it attempted to circle me to attack, so I felt that I had no option but to protect myself," the officer wrote in a police report.
Police Chief Bob Terry told the Herald-Citizen, "We are aware there is a lot of criticism out there over this incident, and we want to take [Hall] off the road and let him perform other duties while we get this all resolved." Terry stressed that Hall was not being punished for killing the dog.
The Herald-Citizen reports that "to an average viewer, the scene recorded on the video may not demonstrate the aggressiveness or the threat the officer said he experienced as the dog came toward him."
Terry said he will have two unrelated police agencies perform independent reviews of the incident.
"We once again extend our deepest concerns to the Smoak family for their loss," Terry said. "We know this was a terrible experience for them, and we truly wish that we could undo the events that occurred on the night of Jan. 1."
The Smoaks recently told their story on CNN's "Connie Chung Tonight."
Speaking of Patton, son Brandon Smoak told Chung, "He's the gentlest dog that I've ever been around. He's like Scooby Doo. He wasn't mean at all."
Wow... I didn't know dogs are supposed to understand the command 'Get back'.
We've been to many of the same places - Germany, Saudi, Kuwait, Iraq, Cuba, Haiti, Panama, Ecuador, Peru, Thailand, South Korea ...
No purple hearts.
Cmon. Isn't that a bit harsh? This is only a dog, and the police officer is a human. Night and day difference.
Cop should apologize to the family. Offer to pay for another dog, and burial of the dead dog.
Cop also needs remedial training as well.
It sure wouldn't be a threat to me. Not for long, anyway. I'd just blow its head off too.
It has its teeth. I have a gun. It loses.
I have no patience for aggressive dogs that act like they want even a little piece of me.
It would be a decent gesture.
But if it were to happen again: *Bang*
Agreed.
When I get stopped by traffic cops, I turn on my overhead dome lights, I turn off the ignition, put the car keys on the dash, make very slow movements, follow the cop's instructions, and put my hands on the steering wheel when they approach.
The last time I had to talk to a cop was to sign off on a fix-it ticket. There were THREE cops manning the front desk over at San Jose PD headquarters, and not one wanted to go sign-off on the ticket. Doesn't matter that it was Santa Clara Sheriff that wrote it. These cops were just plain lazy.
Administrative duty, is a cush job. Sure, its boring and not 'prestigious' as patrol, but its a cush job.
I served as an LEO until 95 when I was hit by a doper ambush in South Florida.
Just curious, how many years active/reserve?
If that's true, and I have no reason to doubt that it is, you need to let these folks know ...
It has its teeth. I have a gun. It loses.
I have no patience for aggressive dogs that act like they want even a little piece of me.
You're a small man Kevin, not only for having that mindset but for posting it here on freerepublic for everyone to see. I really hope and pray that someone as small minded as yourself isn't out there in public as an armed police officer.
This was a very unfortunate incident, and it is easy to condemn the cop in hindsight. But there was simply no moral fault on the part of the police officers; they were responding as imperfect human beings might be expected to respond to a quickly-unfolding situation filled with unknowns. The death of this dog was no more the moral fault of the police officer than it would be the fault of, say, a driver who runs over a dog rather than swerving, losing of control, and placing his own physical safety at risk. If the choice is between injury to a human or the death of a dog, the human wins--except in PETA world.
Street experience teaches cops to be proactive--not to wait until they have absorbed the first surprise.
Of course the family did nothing wrong, either. And their dog was simply acting as a dog acts. No moral fault or any fault there. Dogs are protective--not particularly discerning. These characteristics make dogs valuable to armed criminals for the same reason they are valuable to a law-abiding families. That's too bad.
The family will understandably be angry and enraged but the cop has no reason to accept the rage and take it personally. He ought to express his sympathy and as a kind gesture offer to get them a new dog, but solely as a gesture of sorrow and kindness--not as an admission of fault.
This kind of incident produces gallons of anger and resentment but offers no legitimate bucket to place them in.
Somebody get me a gun.
In extreme cases they are so proud of their fetish that they brag about it in public.
Wrong agency. LEO Eric Hall works for the Tennessee Highway Patrol, no the Cookeville Police Department!
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