Choking Dog Dies After Police Pull Owners Over

A family has filed multiple complaints after police mistakenly pulled them over as robbery suspects, then shot and killed their dog as it bounded from the car.

A tape released by authorities Wednesday documents the incident, which began when a Tennessee state trooper and three Cookeville police cars pulled over James Smoak and his family as they drove home Jan. 1 from a vacation.

The trooper suspected the Smoaks' dark green station wagon was connected to a robbery, Tennessee Highway Patrol officials said.

Troopers ordered the family out of the car, and the video shows James and Pamela Smoak and their 17-year-old son, Brandon, obeying. They came out with their hands up, got down and were handcuffed.

About a minute after the traffic stop, one of the dogs — a bulldog-boxer mix named Patton — jumped from the car and raced toward Cookeville police officer Eric Hall, who was holding a shotgun. The tape shows that Hall stepped back and fired just before Patton reached him.

The dog appeared to be wagging its tail as it ran toward the officer, the tape shows.

Patton died from the shotgun blast. And as it turns out, the Smoaks had not committed a crime at all.

Police had suspected them based on a report of money flying from their car as it sped down Interstate 40. They later discovered Smoak had simply left his wallet on the car while pumping gas.

Smoak, of Saluda, N.C., declined comment Wednesday. He said he is pursuing legal action and has been advised not to discuss the case. The Smoaks have filed complaints with all agencies involved in the stop.

Hall, the officer who shot the dog, has contended he had no choice when the animal charged him.

He has been reassigned to administrative duties pending an independent review. But the Cookeville Police Department's internal investigation found that Hall did not use excessive force.
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now that i can be very upset about. not only did the police misinterpret the calls they received, but they were told there were dogs in the car and let them out anyway. in my limited understanding, i think that when dealing with possible criminals, it would be procedure to wait for animal control to get the dogs rather than letting loose a potentially dangerous animal. i mean, if you thought it might harm someone (which seems to be the case as it was dead FOUR seconds after it was released from the car), then you should NOT let it out of the car. if you already have everyone of your suspects on the ground, kneeling and handcuffed, where is the urgency? why not take them into custody, call animal control to remove the dogs, and then continue on with the search of the car?

you can find the video on youtube - it is extremely disturbing, especially when you consider that ALL this family did wrong was leave their money on top of their car as they pulled out of a gas station. and the officer gets no punishment for his actions.
 
the title says it all.... thats mess up.
 
Here's the rest of the story. This is from http://www.zootoo.com/petnews/copstopsspeederschokingdogdies

"Stephens initiated a routine traffic stop. Gonzalez pulled over. Immediately, Stephens asked the driver to move to the end of the overpass.
The car started towards the wider, safer shoulder, then suddenly, the vehicle jerked back onto the interstate. Cutting across lanes of traffic, Gonzalez sped off.
Stephens followed, calling for back-up. A three-mile, high-speed chase ensued, where Gonzalez cut in front of a tractor trailer, passed traffic on the right shoulder and finally pulled over for a second time."

"'I can understand the officer being hyped, but once he found out this was a life-threatening situation he should have cut it off, and been less confrontational,' said Williams after reviewing the patrol car's video of the traffic stop."

"Bender worked to dislodge the food from the poodle's throat and then performed canine CPR.
'The other officer did a much better job trying to calm the passenger down,' Williams said of Bender's actions. 'She tried to literally help the dog and revive the dog.'"

IMO, the 1st officer on the scene was an insensitive ***, but the dog's owner should not have been driving as he was clearly not it control of himself.
 
feemia said:
Here's the rest of the story. This is from http://www.zootoo.com/petnews/copstopsspeederschokingdogdies

"Stephens initiated a routine traffic stop. Gonzalez pulled over. Immediately, Stephens asked the driver to move to the end of the overpass.
The car started towards the wider, safer shoulder, then suddenly, the vehicle jerked back onto the interstate. Cutting across lanes of traffic, Gonzalez sped off.
Stephens followed, calling for back-up. A three-mile, high-speed chase ensued, where Gonzalez cut in front of a tractor trailer, passed traffic on the right shoulder and finally pulled over for a second time."

"'I can understand the officer being hyped, but once he found out this was a life-threatening situation he should have cut it off, and been less confrontational,' said Williams after reviewing the patrol car's video of the traffic stop."

"Bender worked to dislodge the food from the poodle's throat and then performed canine CPR.
'The other officer did a much better job trying to calm the passenger down,' Williams said of Bender's actions. 'She tried to literally help the dog and revive the dog.'"

IMO, the 1st officer on the scene was an insensitive ***, but the dog's owner should not have been driving as he was clearly not it control of himself.
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so in other words, an officer DID try to help, to no avail.

and not only did the driver not pull over, he escalated the situation by evading the stop and driving recklessly?

i dont care if his dog was worth a million dollars. he should be prosecuted for that.
 
after watching the video..yet more typical one-sided media showing its face. note how nobody even mentioned the backup officer's actions? the focus was on the 'horrible' officer who conducted the stop.


"i believe he was abusing his power when he yelled at me"

i was not aware that a police officer yelling at a person directly after a high-speed pursuit was considered an abuse of power.

someone tell that guy it's "reprimand" not "reprimandation"....
 
that cop is an ******* aperantly he doesnt have a dog of his own.
 
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