Cops Shoot Wounded Dog After Failing to Find Someone to Help

Cops were called to help the dog

Reason

A mother and daughter in Massachusetts saw a wounded dog on the side of the road so they called the police.

From CBS Boston:

Fifteen-year-old Kassidy Edwards can't forget the horrific sound. "It was just two big loud popping noises right after each other and there was nothing after that," she describes.

Those popping noises? Police shooting a dog who was hit by a car because they couldn't find its owner or anyone to help.

Kassidy and her mother say they discovered the dog hit by a car on their Leominster street early in one morning this spring and called police for help.

The mother says she was "livid" about what happened but police say they couldn't find an animal control officer from any neighboring town. Leominster does not have one of their own, so the cops took the dogs into the woods and shot it. A state official says it wouldn't have happened if the city had an animal control officer.

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Comments

[Brett L]

I'm... okay with this one. If they wanted to save the dog, they could've picked it up and taken it to an emergency vet clinic. Instead, they called the cops.

[Marc F Cheney]

Agreed. In the cops' position, I'm not sure I would have done any differently. They couldn't find the owner, and it's otherwise distracting from their actual jobs.

And in the mother's position, I would have taken it to a vet. I think she made the wrong call.

[entropy]

She definitely made the wrong call.

All the same, the excuse is ridiculous. Don't have an animal control officer? So what? What is this, union regulations? Can't tie your shoes unless you're a card-carrying local 304 string knotter?

"distracting from their actual jobs" - of eating donuts and ticketing random commuters?

[HazelMeade]

I agree as well. Everyone knows you are suposed to call the FIRE DEPARTMENT for situations like this.

[Almanian!]

sweet!

+1 kitteh up a tree

[Death Rock and Skull]

Where I currently reside, calling the fire department is the same as calling the police department. And the hospital, and the babysitter, and your banker, and the park rangers. Can't trust anyone around here.

[Almanian!]

Damn - your place sucks!

[NeonCat]

So... everyone shoots your dog?

[Almanian!]

That dog is really gun shy by now.

Or dead. Probably dead.

[Almanian!]

Yeah, even as the owner...caretaker...of 5 dogs and 2 cats, Ida just taken the dog to my vet (if it'd let me), or it's gotta go down like a horse with a broken leg if it won't 🙁

Sorry ladies - you fucked up! You trusted them!

[jasno]

Yeah, not sure what the outrage is here. If anything it's an example of efficiency in government.

[hotsy totsy]

After all, cops gotta practice their dog shooting skills somewhere.

[JW]

If they wanted to save the dog, they could've picked it up and taken it to an emergency vet clinic.

Many years ago, I delivered auto parts for a living. Once, while coming back from a delivery, I saw a big Irish setter come barreling out of the park next to the road. I slowed down in time, but the guy next to me, in the right lane, never saw the dog.

The sound from the impact was pretty sickening.

The owner, a woman arrives on the scene a minute or so later and is understandably very distraught. I knew there was an animal hospital just down the road, so I said "fuck it" and put the dog in the car. She's hysterical and the dog is breathing bloody foam all over the interior. We get there in just a minute or so, but the dog died a few minutes later.

So, yeah, I'd say the cop probably made the right call, but who knows. The kicker in my story is that, before taking off to the vet clinic, a guy stopped and handed a card to the guy who hit the dog, offering his automotive interior cleaning services.

[GroundTruth]

Wrong.

The cops are always talking about "service". Part of "service" is going above and beyond.

Further, had the same person shot the dog not been wearing the uniform, it would have been animal cruelty, no questions asked.

Finally, the cops are always saying "call us". So she did. And this is what happened.

*****************

The cop involved is definitely working on putting the "asshole" in "Masshole".

[entropy]

They took it in the woods and shot it - tell me is it legal to dispose of animal carcasses by just dumping them in the park preserve?

Can I do that?

[Death Rock and Skull]

Just put it in an opaque trash bag and place in the appropriate receptacle.

[entropy]

I'm just thinking, maybe now that they're back to work and not distracted, they can go about solving the crime of who's illegally dumping dead animals on government property.

[entropy]

Probably a teabagger.

[entropy]

Did the dog have tags on it?

Did they check before they shot it?

[Almanian!]

This is a good question - all our animals are tagged and chipped - and have one of our cell numbers. Call me!

[Almanian!]

A state official says it wouldn't have happened if the city had an animal control officer

A RESULT OF THE DO-NOTHING RETHUGLICAN CONGRESS SEKWESTER, NO DOOT! FUCK YOU, TEATHUGLIDOGKILLERS!

[Anonymous Coward]

I found a dog that had been hit on the street once. A cop showed up who was more interested in getting information on me than in saving the dog. So I put it in my truck and drove it to the animal hospital. Thankfully, they fixed it up and put the shaggy critter up for adoption.

I guess we didn't need an animal control officer to properly exercise a little human decency.

[Almanian!]

*appluads Anonymous*

Good deed

[Anonymous Coward]

I have occasions when my Kochtopus conditioning to thrive on misery, suffering, and the destruction of ROADZ, is overwhelmed by compassion for another living thing.

Thankfully, when I become a cyborg, all weakness shall be wiped away.

[entropy]

I guess we didn't need an animal control officer to properly exercise a little human decency.

You're not union, are you?

[Scarecrow Repair]

Nor a coward, it seems. I am disappoint.

[Monkey's Uncle]

+1 grievance filed

[larry hammond]

So the correct course of action is just kill it? Seriously? WTF else does a cop in a town of 40k have to do besides generate revenue by harassing residents and visitors? Take it to the emergency vet or a shelter with hospital facilities or at least call them. I am thinking they took a quick look around and said "Well I don't see the owner, so I am just going to shoot the dog for fun so I can make it home in time for Honey Boo Boo."

[A Serious Man]

If the dog was badly injured and there was no way to identify its owner I'd say putting it down was the humane thing to do.

The job of the police isn't to take stray dogs to the vet and I'm not sure what else they could have done in that situation.

[MJGreen]

Agreed. Depending on the totality of the circs, I might understand and even agree with the cops' actions.

[Invisible Finger]

I'm not sure what else they could have done in that situation.

I'd have been happy with "Nothing we can do" and drove away.

[Brandybuck]

Ditto. I once had to shoot a cat I had hit with my car. Hardest thing I ever had to do. But it was a hell of a lot better than letting it die in horrific pain. Take it to a vet and you're only prolonging the misery another couple of hours.

[Tulpa (LAOL-VA)]

You're missing the fact that Reason really doesn't like cops, so any story in which they can be painted as monsters will be pushed to the max. And the commentariat usually eats it up like hotcakes -- good to see some critical thinking this time around.

[Dweebston]

It's not humane to shoot an uninjured dog, so yes, this is a nice change of pace from the typical cop-shoots-dog stories.

[StinkEye]

".. Reason really doesn't like cops, so any story in which they can be painted as monsters will be pushed to the max.."

Think of it as a counter-balance to the blue Gestapo over at Police One, fantasizing and salivating over the opportunity to gut shoot and jackboot curb stomp family pets and their owners dangerous pitbulls and terrorists (fer freedum), for fun and profit and just make it home afterwards.

[SugarFree]

Tulpa likes to give cops a handjob while lubed up with dog blood.

Of course, why should any of us care what a weak, statist coward has to say on any subject? He had to block me because I wuz 2 mean. Big old meanie.

[Loki]

A mother in daughter in Massachusetts saw a wounded dog on the side of the road so they called the police.

"Well there's your problem!"

[db]

in Massachusetts

There's a real problem.

[amelia]

Now seems like as good a time as any to remember the baby deer shot to death by cops in Oakland for "acting disoriented in an urban environment."

http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/.....eer/nK4Kh/

[Eduard van Haalen]

Acting like scrumptious, tasty venison in an urban environment?

[Joe M]

Just wait until Obamacare kicks in and they have to start shooting the people at car accidents.

[Render Unto Caesar]

I'm guessing one of the cops was a rooky and it all went down something like this:

More Seasoned Dog Killer Cop: "Hey, rook. This is an opportunity to have a little target practice. This dog can't move so it's a perfect way to work up to real dogs that can run around and snap at you and stuff... Alright, go ahead and have at it... I'll go back to the squad car so you can masturbate afterwards if you like."

[Almanian!]

Looks like [REDACTED] got hold of your post

[R C Dean]

The problem here, procedurally, is it doesn't sound like the continuum of force was observed.

It doesn't sound like the cops beat the dog before shooting it.

I'm curious about something else: Could an ordinary subject have shot a dog there, or would that be unlawful discharge of a firearm, etc.? I suspect the latter, and I'm willing to bet there's no exception for cops in that law.

If so, why aren't they being charged? Did they not violate a law?

[R C Dean]

I had to look. Turns out cops are exempted from this statute:

The provisions of this section shall not apply to . . . (b) any law enforcement officer acting in the discharge of his duties;

Raising another question: is shooting injured animals one of the duties of a cop? Or is it more of a perq?

[Invisible Finger]

The job is all perqs and no duties.

[Joe M]

His duties are whatever he thinks they are, I'm sure.

[Invisible Finger]

How else were mother and daughter going to learn this valuable lesson?

[ant1sthenes]

What did they expect? Cops are the sort of people who though Old Yeller had a happy ending.

[MappRapp]

Ther eis a dude that knows whats going on man. Wow.

http://www.Mega-Anon.tk

[StinkEye]

Way to phone it in, anonbot..... shitheel

[Rock Action]

The dog had to have been playing poker

[KPres]

"A state official says it wouldn't have happened if the city had an animal control officer."

How many animal control officers does 2 shitty cops' salary pay for?

[Hyperion]

A mother and daughter in Massachusetts saw a wounded dog on the side of the road so they called the police

Well obviously, those two either do not read much news on the intertoobs, or they really, really hate dogs!

[StinkEye]

"Well obviously, those two either do not read much news on the intertoobs, or they really, really hate dogs!

It was the baff saltz, the dog was wacked out of his skull on that shit... Did you expect them to just wait around until their faces got eaten?

[UCrawford]

Yeah, I don't see what the cops did wrong. If you go to the original story, it points out that the officers called the neighboring town's animal control and all of the shelters in the area, so there was nothing they could really do, short of perform surgery themselves. The dog was dying, they couldn't locate the owner, so they did the humane thing.

Looks to me more like Reason didn't bother to read more than the headline before posting this one, because there isn't anything to criticize here on the part of the cops. They made a serious effort to find help, and when they couldn't they did the humane thing for the animal. If the lady and her kid were horrified by it, that's their problem...doesn't put the cops at fault.

[UCrawford]

If this were the standard story about cops shooting uninjured or non-violent dogs out of convenience on a raid, I'd have a different view...but it's just a mercy killing for a dog that got hit by a car and couldn't be saved. I think police deserve credit when they do the right thing.

[Bob_R]

Cop was hoping Kevin Spacey would play him in the movie version of the story.