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."
When I was 7 or 8, I got bit in the face by a farmers dog, which left a nice gash on my forehead. My folks washed and patched the wound, and never took me to the doctor...
...until about 3 days later to get a rabies shot. And another one a week later. These were the old-fashioned rabies shots that they gave in the lower abdomen.
The dog was fine after 2 weeks, so they stopped the series of shots.
Anyway, I was not traumatized, I did not get counseling, and I continued to be friends with this dog until he died a few years later.
I didn't say the shooter was the victim. I do however give him the benefit of the doubt in the shooting.
I just said he looked like the model of restaint relative to the people on this board.
You are right, of course.
There would be far, far less outcry if Hall had been off-duty when this happened. Even less concern if he were just an ordinary joe responding--however erroneously--to what he considered a threat to his personal safety. Most of these nuts just despise cops.
I'm not frightened of a pitbull or any other aggressive dog running loose that might menacingly approach me or a member of my family on a public street. If I don't have a gun with me, maybe I'll pick up a large rock or two and pop it on the old bean. But if I have my handgun, *bang.*
It's really pretty simple.
They are railroading him in a merciless frenzy of lynch mob mentality, that makes Officer Hall look like the model of restraint.
That too. I couldn't agree more.
Yeah. Everbody knows you're supposed to wait until they bite.
The bootlickers who are defending this thug, would be the first in line to call for the arrest and prosecution of Joe Q. Citizen, who carried a handgun and shot a REAL attacking dog with it.
They would also defend the police stealing Joe Q.'s gun.
However, when one of their 'gods' shoot an innocent puppy dog, their attitude is that the family should thank the JBT's for not shooting them as well or for not charging them with some phony felony.
I wish the bootlicking brigades would get the hell out of my country, and go somewhere that their attitudes are welcome like China or Russia.
That is a pretty lame response, and entirely discounts the fact four other officers were present, the owners were handcuffed, the officers let the effing dog out anyway and the lady screamed the dog won't bite.
Other than that, I agree he did the right thing.
Give him a promotion, make him Captain.
With a 12-gauge shotgun? What in the world was he going to do if they needed help?
About three years ago, I was pulled over by an OHP trooper for exceeding the speed limit :/ while driving on I-35 through Oklahoma City. It was after dark and I had my wife, daughters and two dogs with me. The dogs growled and the trooper was visibly shaken and he put his hand on his side arm. He made me get out of my van and sit with him in his cruiser while he wrote me up. He was pretty surly with me the whole time. I'm sure his intitially evident fear and subsequent anger was because of the dogs.
Regardless of my thoughts regarding the trooper's demeanour, I travel with the dogs in restraint harnesses secured to seat belts, both then and now. It's much safer for me because the dogs can't roam around the vehicle and cause problems. It's much safer for the dogs because they can't be thrown around in the event of an accident. And in the light of both my experience in Oklahoma City and the experience of the Smoaks in Cookeville, TN, restraining your dogs in the car has definite advantages if you are pulled over by the police.
It's not just "bootlickers". I agree there are posters who defend every cop action against what they view as the "cop hater" crowd. The argument between the "cop haters" and the "boot lickers" will go on until the end of time.
I simply watched the video and expected to see the cop execute a cowering dog. Instead I saw three cops concerned about the dog (one asking about the type, two pointing their weapons at it), and I saw the dog rush into camera view just before the cop shot it. It didn't seem surprising that he shot it. Other people who are not "cop haters" swear that the dog was friendly, etc. I can't judge that from the tape, but it's clear that the cops were concerned.
I also listened to the family's anguish and read about the sloppy police work before and after the incident. I sincerely hope the police sloppiness is fixed permanently.
"Snooky" picked up an ear of corn, and I said, "No Snooky. Put that down."
He did.
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