Dog’s shooting raises ire

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20091015/NEWS01/710159907/0/AP11


By Andrew J. Nelson
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
« Metro/Region

What’s not in dispute is this: A Papillion police officer shot a man’s dog to death while executing a search warrant at the man’s home Oct. 6 in north Omaha.

What is in dispute: Nearly everything else.

A week later, people who live near the home at 48th Street and Fowler Avenue are still fuming over the death of Cisco — a 2-year-old, 73-pound pit bull and yellow lab mix described as a sweetheart — and over what they described as the callous way the suburban officers behaved.

Among the actions that stoked neighbors’ ire: After Cisco had been shot, they said, Papillion police officers high-fived each other and laughed.
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“They thought it was hilarious,” said Diana Curry, the landlord of the searched home.

Papillion Police Chief Leonard Houloose says that his officers acted properly and that the officer who shot the dog had to do so because Cisco charged him. He said the officer feels terrible.

FULL story and photo of Cisco at link.

[daedalus_dude]

1. I think cops who shoot someones dog need to be treated like they had shot someones kid.

[krispos42]

2. Yup. n/t

[Biker13]

3. Agreed...

K&R

[vadawg]

4. dog does not equal kid, get a grip

[mitchum]

10. Just as a dog does not equal an officer...

but those roided out authoritarian dirtbags consider a canine to be one of their own.
They flatter themselves.

[Mari333]

11. for many of us, our family are also the non human animals in our lives

period.

[vadawg]

12. yeah well try and get murder charges against someone who kills your pet

it aint going to happen....

[Mari333]

13. wish I could.

not my fault that human animals think they are better than other animals.

[vadawg]

15. i take it then you dont eat animals or eat anything that they may eat as they are equals

:)

[Mari333]

16. yes, I am a vegan. :)

and many non human animals, imo, are more highly evolved than many of the human animals I know.

[old mark]

5. Several years ago, 2 Allentown / Lehigh County PA deputies shot 2 dogs

who had got out of the bedroom where they had been confined so they would not be in the way of the deputies delivering warrants. They killed the 2 dogs in front of the family, including the children. No action was taken against the deputies.

mark

[vadawg]

6. what action do you suggest not going into the particulars of this one incident

everyone is allowed not just cops to shoot an animal if they feel the animal is a threat to them, i look at my own dogs in the past, to us they are lovable, good dogs but to any outsider they see big dogs. How can you prove that the cops didnt see the dog as a threat to their safety and get it to stick?

[pipoman]

7. Animal control officers seem quite able

to contain animals while rarely 'having' to kill the animal. There is a difference between a threatening animal at large which may attack an officer or a bystander and going into a secured home and shooting the animal for being a dog. Dogs, even my 5 lb yorkie, are naturally inclined to protect their owner and their domain, even to their own death. What would be the harm in either calling animal control to handle the animal or using less than lethal means to control the animal. Again, this perceived 'attack' occurred in a private home.

everyone is allowed not just cops to shoot an animal if they feel the animal is a threat to them

Not in my fucking living room they aren't 'allowed'.

[vadawg]

8. i hate to tell you but if someone is in your living room legally and they feel your dog is a danger

to them and they feel they have no option then yes they can kill your dog, courts have this tendency to place human life and limb above animals, it all comes down to the perception of the person who feels threatened. You raise the point about animal control, they have more experience with dealing with animals, they have different equipment for dealing with animals and they destroy animals who are aggressive when they feel the animal is a danger to them or others...

[pipoman]

9. And mailmen the world over

protect themselves quite effectively with pepper spray. Maybe a catch pole in the trunk of officers serving warrants. I don't dispute that officers must kill an animal sometimes, but a dog, merely being a good dog in their own domicile, should be handled differently than a dog at large.

and then there's this from the whole story at the op link..sounds like Papillion doesn't hire brain surgeons for their warrant service..

Houloose would not identify the person they were investigating, but Nodskov said it was his 20-year-old son. Court records indicate an arrest warrant was issued Friday for Nodskov’s son on two counts of burglary and two counts of criminal mischief. They also indicate his son is out on bail from a different burglary charge in Lincoln.

Rosemarie Biggs, 51, who lives in the house just west of Nodskov’s, said the officers came to her house first, banged on the door and yelled that they had a warrant. She didn’t answer the door.

Across the street, Curry watched the officers look up, notice Biggs’ address, then walk next door to Nodskov’s house and knock.

Curry walked across the street and told the officers she was the landlord, that she had a key and would let them in. They told her to get back in her house.

“They didn’t care,” she said. “At that point they were just so hyped up.”

The officers used a battering ram to knock down the door, Curry said. Then an officer with a pistol stepped into the doorway and stepped right back out.

Curry heard one of the officers say, take him out — shoot him. The officer with the pistol stepped back inside. Then, gunshots. Biggs counted three; Omaha police reports said the dog was shot twice.

[Kingofalldems]

14. As a former letter carrier I agree

Pepper spray works just fine. These cops are sick.

[baldguy]

17. If they can do that to a dog, they can do that to a person.

Under a cloak of authority, they kill when they face no threat - and they get away with it because they're police officers.