Chicken owner charged after shooting dog.

[kagedgoddess]

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No problem, I just wanted to make it clear that I am behind Ed 100%, but I am also supportive of LEO's. I'll wait to hear what Ed says about them before I comment on this again, since we really don't know what they were like. I can only imagine the idiot Dog owner was ranting to the police and they felt that if they didn't cite Ed for something that they would have a fiasco on there hands, just look at how the media portrayed, imagine if the police did not cite him, what type of report and public out cry that would have been, because you know the media report would have been severely slanted in favor of the moron dog owner.

I whole heartedly believe that the inept dog owner should have been held accountable for neglect and leash violation in addition to trespassing. If I were Ed, I would sue the dog owner for all the legal fees and undue stress for having to be put in the position that he was in and for the stress it caused his kids for having witnessed it and for the fear they experienced and for the flyer that the sharthead dog owner posted in the neighborhood.

I would just take him to small claims court and ask for the max for small claims and file the claim himself without at lawer (unless the lawer was doing it for free).

i whole heartly concur, take him to court! he has a definite entitlement complex. maybe if enuf judges tell him to leash his dog he'll get the hint.
also sometimes there are lazy cops. i do agree they shouldnt be cops, but they are. some are awesome. and some are just ok. my friend had a girlfriend with 1 leg, she got drunk one night and started trashing the house threatening to kill ppl etc, friend called the fuzz, the came out she had gotten naked and refused to leave the bedroom, the cops said they couldnt do anything, 1 legger lived there, which was Not true and about 10 neighbors vouched for this poor man. the cops just didnt want to deal with a naked drunk one legged woman.

 

[JennsPeeps]

Sine I initially posted in this thread about my friend whose dog bit someone as a result of an unleashed dog, I'll post an update. She and her dog are off the hook: the police cited the woman whose dog was off-leash & charged my friend's dog.

Hooray for law-abiding citizens winning in the end!!!

 

[horsejody]

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Awesome.

 

[Mom2Cool]

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Whether the police were polite is not a issue, arresting innocent parties to make someone feel better is a violation of civil rights. As a former LEO I fully understand what a officer goes through, that IS what they and I got paid to do. The dog owner BROKE the law and endangered lives and overall safety of the community, and was unapologetic for his actions. Ed in his posts to this community relaid that the Police had been called along with other authorities and the problem continued. Had the owner followed his commitment to the dog the dog would be alive. Had the police did the job they were sworn to do the dog would be alive. Arresting a innocent man is not polite or acceptable, it is down right rude.

Nobody expects the police to be tarred or feathered, but they screwed up and it is the DA's job to inform them that they violated rights and endangered his/her constituents. If the Police cannot hold to the higher standard that is expected they should seek employment elsewhere. Making excuses for lax law enforcement does not serve purpose to honor brave officers present and past. They would and I do expect better.

Ok I don't know about the post by this dogbitelaw.com person because I can't find it in the past postings, but I think the original comment about the officers not being polite/respectful wasn't made to be an issue but rather was being made an example of the slanted news report/article.

The dog owner was unapologetic but again that was in the news coverage where IMO he sounded a bit rightgeous. Again it's just my impression, but I believe his intention was to gain sympathy etc from the general public. He took a position of being in the right or that it was wrong that his dog had been shot. On discovery of his dead dog he sounded dramatically hysterical over the loss of his dog. I believe that a officer giving him a ticket would have just added fuel to idea the dog owner had been wronged. People would have thought them outragiously insensitive to a distraught man who has to pick up his dead dog to take home.... If not for the 1 person who picked up this story & brought it to the BYC none of us would have known about this and had we not heard & Horsejody start contacting people & other's wirting to a message board perhaps the "outcry" would have been entirely different.... Perhaps the police already knew that & wanted the outcome they knew would come & would be right! This is NOT an excuse for the police but just the support that perhaps they know what they're doing..... Different areas of the US with different incomes, social status etc makes different areas different & perhaps we just do not understand the entire situationof the area the way the police there do....

Like others I just feel we do not know what the real situation was because we were not there & the news article was slanted..... Like others I too am in full support of Mr. Harris and what he had to do, but we do not know the situation the police were in or why they did what did and everything here is pure speculation including what I think might have happened....

"Ed in his posts to this community relaid that the Police had been called along with other authorities and the problem continued."

I must have missed this because what I read here on this forum from Mr. Harris was
"Sitting in my home in fear, not calling the police, they are not going to show up, they can’t get here in time. That’s what all the neighbors say. That is what has happened in the past. We know they are overwhelmed too. "

I believe him. So According to Mr Harris this neighborhood had issues in the past & called authorities & they were unable to get there in time to catch said dogs or learn whom ever it was letting their dog run free. Mr. harris said they could not find the dog owners "do they even know or care?" From what Mr. Harris has said there was a roaming dog problem & they could not figure out who the owners were. Calling the authorities the police did not get there in time to take action. This was the reasoning behind Mr. Harris doing what he had to it wasn't because Mr Harris was just a trigger happy nut shooting dogs or because the police had not done what they're suppose to. " Had the police did the job they were sworn to do the dog would be alive." This is just harsh & an unfair statement & you have no way of knowing any of that... the idea that the police didn't ticket the dog owner for failure to leash his dog would not have prevented the tragedy that had already taken place....

I think the point other posters here had originally been trying to make was people were jumping to the conclusion that the cops acted inappropriately & bashing LE when we didn't have the facts *except from a article that was slanted*. IF Mr. Harris' civil liberties were violated there are legal actions he can take. As others have said while I'm in full support of Mr. Harris and what he had to do so am I willing to give the police the support they need to deal with the public & at least wait until I hear from Mr. Harris as to how they acted i.e. polite, respectful etc & I'm sorry but I disagree in that a police officer arresting someone can still be respectful & polite as opposed to being degrading, verbally abusive & physically aggressive. Again I'll wait to hear from Mr. Harris on how he was treated.

 

[horsejody]

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Ed broke no laws but was charged. I understand that LEO's can't be expected to know every law on the books and that mistakes happen. That's why the DA gets to decide what the charges are in the end. However, I find it hard to believe that that the officers involved weren't aware of the leash laws. Grief or no grief, the dog owner broke the law and admitted it. It shouldn't matter if somebody is being a drama queen or if the police are worried that some news reporter will stir things up. The law is the law. We are all supposed to have equal protection under the law. LEO's should not decide that they have more sympathy for one person and less for another. Laws need to be enforced. We see so many communities passing new dog laws regarding dangerous dogs, certain breeds of dogs, etc. New laws wouldn't be needed if the laws already on the books were enforced. If people were regularly ticketed in that community for loose dogs, the problem would dry up. Officers add to the problem when a dog owner is standing right in front of them and admits that he let the dog run unsupervised, unless they ticket him. Not ticketing was like telling him and the entire community that the dog owner did nothing wrong and it's perfectly fine to let your dogs roam. If law enforcement refuses to ticket or charge lawbreakers, it makes the law moot. It is their job to enforce the law, not pick and choose the laws they like or worry about winning a popularity contest.

 

[Mom2Cool]

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Ed broke no laws but was charged. I understand that LEO's can't be expected to know every law on the books and that mistakes happen. That's why the DA gets to decide what the charges are in the end. However, I find it hard to believe that that the officers involved weren't aware of the leash laws. Grief or no grief, the dog owner broke the law and admitted it. It shouldn't matter if somebody is being a drama queen or if the police are worried that some news reporter will stir things up. The law is the law. We are all supposed to have equal protection under the law. LEO's should not decide that they have more sympathy for one person and less for another. Laws need to be enforced. We see so many communities passing new dog laws regarding dangerous dogs, certain breeds of dogs, etc. New laws wouldn't be needed if the laws already on the books were enforced. If people were regularly ticketed in that community for loose dogs, the problem would dry up. Officers add to the problem when a dog owner is standing right in front of them and admits that he let the dog run unsupervised, unless they ticket him. Not ticketing was like telling him and the entire community that the dog owner did nothing wrong and it's perfectly fine to let your dogs roam. If law enforcement refuses to ticket or charge lawbreakers, it makes the law moot. It is their job to enforce the law, not pick and choose the laws they like or worry about winning a popularity contest.

I understand what you're saying Jody but it didn't sound like the dog owner was "standing in front of them" but rather he was on the ground having a fit. We can speculate until the cows come home but the fact is we don't know why they did what they did..... "not ticketing him was like saying the dog owner did nothing wrong" No because the man had already lost a dog & was distraught about it & it just said he'd been punished already & the police were sensitive to his loss. Them doing so isn't just a matter of the law but about the police there knowing what a likely outcome may be and them acting in a manner for that out come to happen. Again just speculation on my part but we *just don't know*. The media has a way of spinning things some times to garner sympathy for people who are *clearly in the wrong* I've *seen this first hand* & the out come is very different from the "law" & this is not lost on LE. You saw how many people were already "pro dog" & it isn't a matter of the cops "winning a popularity contest" but understanding the reality of the area & the spin that will be put on it & *not contributing to it*. The mear idea that we're *accusing the cops* of trying to "win popularity contests" or "picking & choosing laws" etc. is 2nd guessing them & it's easy to do when we're *not there*. I think it's wrong to bash the cops without even hearing from them.

Many years ago (too many to mention) my father had the misfortune of being mugged by 2 men. This was a man who was SO conservative I couldn't begin to convey it, but the one night he'd gone to a retirement party for a co-worker he stopped at a traffic light & they'd jumped in his car. Now of course years later we all know about car jackings etc but this was longer before any of that. It was however in the City of Paterson in NJ & they'd dragged him upstairs into a building & beat the hell out of him & just as they had started the process of breaking his finger to get his wedding band off the cops came running up the stairs & burst into a dark room etc. There were *pictures* of my father buised, bloody & beaten but to hear the paper he was 3 sheets to the wind & had "invited the 2 into his car & then hurt himself due to his drunkeness" & the police were un-necessarily rough with the would be muggers. That's the spin the paper used & the one the lawyers picked up & the 2 mugger got off! The "public outcry" wasn't for my father who was *doing nothing wrong* but for the *speculation* of the cops who were said to be "too rough". The cops were unphased because they were use to it, but to the average person who didn't know this conservative man who was NOT a drinker and didn't know the area they believed it at least the *jury who heard it* believed it.

I'll give the cops the benefit of the doubt that they know what they're doing & again if the civil liberties are an issue then there is action that can be taken.

 

[jsimplytx125]

Hey all,
From News report Comments, see results below.


Guest says:Yesterday, 10:58:29 AM“Those of you who understand that owning a dog requires, at the very least, knowing where your dog is at any given time will be happy to know that the district attorney decided not to pursue any charges against Mr. Harris.

Those of you who believe you should be able to let your dogs run around off-leash to "exercise" and just "be dogs," and who believe that people should just lighten up and welcome your "friendly," unaccompanied dog onto their property...well, consider this your wake-up call.

CASE CLOSED


Yippee!!

 

[DuckLady]

Ok, let's keep on topic, though since the case is closed, this thread may have run it's course.

I will watch to see if it has and may lock it to stop more off topic banter.

Thanks!

 

[Mom2Cool]

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Exactly

 

[EweSheep]