Officer coaxes dog closer, and then shoots it (video)

[TANRailgun]

Dallas Morning News

Cleburne police are investigating after a video circulated online of one of its officers coaxing a dog toward him before shooting it.

The short video, taken from a body camera’s perspective, shows a man’s arms wielding a handgun while the officer summons two dogs toward him.

As the animals approached with their tails wagging, the officer fired several times. As one of the dogs fell to the ground, the officer, who has not been identified, took aim at the second dog.

The video ends abruptly, before showing what happened to the other dog.

Although the video shows that the animals were not being aggressive when the officer fired, Cleburne police have said the officer was responding to a 911 call for assistance after several dogs cornered residents in a vehicle.

“The city is obviously concerned about the video showing an officer shooting a dog,” the city said in a written statement. “As is often the case, the short video does not tell the whole story.”

One of the dogs was secured safely, but one of the others became aggressive before animal control personnel arrived, according to the statement.

The Police Department said it would interview any witnesses and review its policies.

“The city of Cleburne takes the safety of our residents, their pets, and our officers seriously,” the statement said.

Following is the city’s official statement:

“The City is obviously concerned about the video showing an officer shooting a dog. As is often the case, the short video does not tell the whole story. The officer was responding to a 911 call for assistance. Three dogs had pinned some residents in a vehicle. One dog was secured without incident before the shooting. The officer was attempting to secure the other dogs until animal control arrived when one dog became aggressive.

“The City of Cleburne takes the safety of our residents, their pets, and our officers seriously. This incident is currently under review. The review will include interviews with witnesses and review of department policies. Once the review is concluded, any actions that may be warranted will be handled swiftly and appropriately.

“The Cleburne Police Department is seeking the public’s help if anyone observed this incident; please contact the Professional Standards Unit at 817.556.8894.”

EDIT: The original video was removed from YouTube for alleged TOS violations, I have found another copy of the video and saved a copy to my hard drive. Should the video go down again, let me know in a PM and I will re-upload it.

Warning: The following video contains images of deadly force inflicted upon an animal, viewer discretion is advised.

Ok, so it really wasn't that bad, but I still gotta do the disclaimer...

And now, the opinion part of the OP:
The part I have difficulty understanding is that the police, as they are wont to do, are claiming the video in question does not give proper context....here's the thing, this is off a body cam...so why not just release the rest of the video? You can't expect us to take your word for it just cuz you're cops, especially when you supposedly have evidence that would support what you are telling us.

[Kitty Nocturna]

That does seem suspicious. The corrupt side of cops is coming into light more than ever and, while some may not be corrupt, many are. Killing a dog for the fun of it is sign of mental issues and a lack of heart. It's just cruel. A copnear where I live was not on call, but that didn't stop him from ignoring the red light at a turn with his siren off. He killed two people. Not yet punished. They have prove he did it despite witnesses. Too bad not one witness was a cop.

[xXFurygeistXx]

Those dogs were not being aggressive. He had no reason to shoot. Doubtful even if he's fired for it that he'd get charged with anything. Absolutely disgusting piece of s**t. evil

[lVlIGHTY]

That ******** piece if s**t pig!!! scream

[TANRailgun]

Kitty Nocturna

That does seem suspicious. The corrupt side of cops is coming into light more than ever and, while some may not be corrupt, many are. Killing a dog for the fun of it is sign of mental issues and a lack of heart. It's just cruel. A copnear where I live was not on call, but that didn't stop him from ignoring the red light at a turn with his siren off. He killed two people. Not yet punished. They have prove he did it despite witnesses. Too bad not one witness was a cop.

Ya know, a few months ago a friend who's brother is a cop told me that there's an unwritten rule that officers get one "freebie" a year, meaning they are allowed to use deadly force once a year without penalty or investigation. At first I didn't believe him, but I'm really starting to.

[David2074]

The officer was attempting to secure the other dogs until animal control arrived when one dog became aggressive

So, by "secure" you mean "kill"
and by "aggressive" you mean "wagging its tail" ??

And I agree with other's comments about how whenever there is a damning video they almost always say something like "that isn't the whole story" but most often the videos released mysteriously cut off or were not turned on in the first place to show the "rest of the story" that would make the cop's actions seem okay.

My neighbor has two larger size mostly white dogs.
They are some sort of a mix but in a very general sense look like what a person might call a Pittbull. (whether or not they actually are one of the breed mixes considered to be pittbull)

These dogs come over to my yard almost every day. Mostly they run over to my compost pile to see if there is something there they want to eat.
Sometimes they bark at me.
On two occasions they have barked at a visitor in their cars and made the visitors afraid to get out of their cars because they did not know the dogs.

So technically they "cornered the people in their cars" and were "acting aggressive".
These cops would have shot them.

But the rest of the story is these dogs are really pretty sweet and just bark sometimes. If you approach them they will either run away or come closer tails wagging to get attention. I've had them both just soaking up the petting / scritching and I've had the female actually fall asleep with her head in my lap.

It used to be sort of hit or miss whether they would come to me to be petted or bark at me and run away. Since I didn't want them to scare visitors, more recently I bought a box of Milkbones and when they come to visit I give each one a milkbone and if they are close enough a bit of petting.
We are now at almost 100% tail wagging and almost no barking. smile

I realize dogs should not be scaring people in their cars, especially not on their own property.
But just because someone is afraid of a barking dog doesn't mean said dog is Cujo.

[Zered Heizien]

the common american pig doing what comes natural to him: murdering animals cause he has a tiny p***s and needs to feel big and tough.

[A Mythic Angel]

I live close enough that I'm trying to gather members to protest the Cleburne PD. Our aim is to picket until this scumbag no longer has a job.

[Cold-Paige]

i hope that *sshole gets what he deserves - death by castration

[Keltoi Samurai]

"Violates the TOS?"

I somehow doubt that, having seen the video and comparing it to s**t I see on Youtube every day.

Has Youtube decided to side with police abusing their shields*?


*The badge has long been associated with a shield . . . Would it be inappropriate to similarly start associating police firearms as "swords?" I ask because, I wanted to make reference to the officer's weapon above, but "shield" is a great symbolic use of language to describe a badge, but we have no other symbolic term to describe police equipment, and I feel that symbolic language just works better here. Also, there's that Dog-awful DiCaprio movie from way back where they used Shakespearean dialogue in a modern setting, and had all the Beretta pistols with "Sword 9mm" inscribed on the blade, so there's some pop-culture precedent, at least.

Captcha: "Bath Water"

Would a police officer's bath water be properly termed as "hogwash?"

[TANRailgun]

Keltoi Samurai

"Violates the TOS?"

I somehow doubt that, having seen the video and comparing it to s**t I see on Youtube every day.

Has Youtube decided to side with police abusing their shields*?

I have to agree. It surprised me when they took it down considering I've seen much worse videos of police shootings on YouTube.

[Blood Valkyrie]

******** disgusting c**t.

[00Dolphin_SW]

This very well could have been an overreaction by everyone involved, including the people who called the police in the first place. Perhaps the dogs were showing signs of aggression before the video, maybe they never did.

Here's the thing though, some people are just naturally afraid of dogs. Maybe they were bit as a kid or maybe they never had a dog and don't understand their body language. It also doesn't help that this breed was a bully breed, displayed in the media as being mean and aggressive.

That being said, I do not believe the officer was in the right at all. Calling a dog to shoot it, an animal that represents loyalty and unconditional love to us, is wrong. That is what people do to food animals like ducks and deer. To us, a dog is not a food animal, and to shoot it in the same way is not something that would be considered humane.

It's good that there is an investigation going on. I'm not sure what's involved in police training but maybe one of the requirements should be training on how to properly handle dogs even if the officers aren't a part of the canine unit.

[Cold-Paige]

that cop/officer really needs to die. and fast