Cop Shoots Dog Hanging Out With Kids in the Face, Claims Self-Defense


Police in Hammond, Indiana, say they got a report of a loose dog before a cop showed up at the home of the Maldonados and shot their pitbull Lily while she was hanging out in the yard during a barbecue. In fact, according to the mother, Norma, Lily was following behind two of her sons who had just grabbed some food when she heard shots fired. My Fox Chicago reports:
Maldonado begged the officer to tell her why he shot the dog.
"He said, 'because your dog was loose," she said. "And I said no she's not there's an electrical fence, read the sign."
The police department told a different story. Through a statement they said the officer called to the family and the dog charged at the officer.
He ran back 15 to 20 feet and the dog lunged at him, so he fired the shot.
The statement continued: "The Hammond Police Department has determined that based upon the circumstances that the officer was justified in defending himself at the time of the incident."
Maldonado said her dog did not lunge at the officer, adding that Lily was shot at the edge of her home near a bush.
The home is a full car length from her invisible fence line.
"He had pepper spray, he had a Taser gun, he didn't have to use his gun with my kids in range," added Maldonado.
After cops shot her dog and cleared themselves of any wrongdoing, Maldonado will now have to go to court because her invisible electrical fence is prohibited in the neighborhood.
h/t Jimmy
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Maldonado will now have to go to court because her invisible electrical fence is prohibited
Ha! Suck on *that*, Maldonado!
her invisible electrical fence
There's invisible fences.
There's electrical fences.
There is no such thing as an invisible electrical fence.
And I have to say, if I'm having a barbecue in my yard with my family and some stranger starts shooting into my yard, they're going to experience some return fire.
An invisible electrical fence would be awesome.
An invisible fence uses electricity to function.
But it doesn't electrocute on contact, it only sends a signal to another device. So it is not an effective trespassing deterrent, as an electrical fence is. You are semantically correct, but not meaningfully correct.
And that device is also electric.
However, I don't see any reason why there'd be an ordinance against the invisible fence, since it operates only thru the collar the dog wears. So I'm guessing there's an ordinance against a regular electrified fence, and that either that's the type of fence they had or the authorities are confused as to the type of fence they had.
Oh, the authorities aren't "confused".
They're just thugging. Its who they are. Its what they do.
They know invisible fences aren't illegal. But they've got to punish this woman for daring to question their authoritay. And that's all they had.
It's called a force field.
Exactly. Which would be awesome.
"He ran back 15 to 20 feet and the dog lunged at him, so he fired the shot.
File this under "things that never happened."
Maybe they would have been safer if they had rolled up in their MRAP.
The hero went home safely. It's all that matters.
Maldonado will now have to go to court because her invisible electrical fence is prohibited in the neighborhood.
Will they be billed for the bullet as well or is that still the last government service available gratis?
I gotta say, though, I've never met a pit who would care one whit about an invisible fence.
It's an invisible *electrical* fence.
What RC Dean says. I had an invisible fence about 20-years ago. My flat-coat retriever figured out quickly, that if he was willing to take a jolt or two, he could spend the day roaming the neighborhood. Got my money back.
My aunt had a lab/chesapeake mix who would take the jolt so he could roam the neighborhood, but wouldn't take the jolt to come back home. Instead he would sit at the end of her driveway whining and howling to be let back in. It was pretty amusing.
Seriously? My pit rolls over and whines if you raise your voice at him, if he gets close to the invisible fence and gets the warning buzz, he's back in the house cowering in his kennel.
There you go. When my pits are looking to go from point A to point B, its usually at a rate of speed that will take them through the shock zone before they can stop.
Possibly, the invisible fence could keep them out, I suppose, as they are never in as big a hurry to come back as they are to go exploring.
Looking at that entry wound, it looks like the dog was shot from the side, and obviously from above. Am I wrong in seeing it that way? If he shot the dog as it was "lunging at him", wouldn't the wound look different? I dunno... maybe coming from the front or something?
You're right. The dog was shot from the side. The cop blatantly and obviously lied, and the other cops backed him up.
Cops don't lie!
I know that from experience.
They also don't play favorites between locals and out-of-towners.
I know this too from experience.
..... right.
Someone should build an invisible electric fence to keep pigs out. And squirrelz.
They don't work on pigs. We tried to install one to keep piglets in and they just went through it when their momma pig went through.
They did the same with barbed wire and buried 4" stock fences. Basically, there was no way to keep them in if their momma got out.
Interesting side note: a neighbor went berserk on me and said if she went through his pistachio orchard one more time he'd either shoot her or me. Needless to say, I saw her getting out the next day and start out across an open fiend for his orchard. I pulled out a .22 Mark III and dropped her with two shots (one behind the ear and one in front of it) from a good 40 yards while she was on a full trot...honestly, one of my proudest personal accomplishments aside from my wife and kids.
You dropped the neighbor?
The eventual result of a "Good Fences Make Good Neighbors" fail I suppose.
Not just the neighbor, but as I read it, the wife and kids as well. I suspect that's why he fled CA.
No, no. The wife is here with me..at work.
All we have is your word...
I read it as sloop dropping the open fiend with two shots from a .22.
Which is impressive.
In all seriousness, though, he would have been well within his rights to shoot the pig if it was (a) trespassing and (b) causing damage.
Cop shoots your dog in "self-defense": Good shoot.
You shoot an attacking cop dog in self-defense: murder 1.
What does it say above the Supreme Court? "Equal before the FYTW"
http://www.hammondpolice.com/
Damn you, Hammond Police Department. Damn you to hell.
Not to nitpick, but if the Hammond Police Dept commits a crime, the Hammond Police Dept gets to investigate it? Shouldn't they at least call in the county sheriff?
"After cops shot her dog and cleared themselves of any wrongdoing, Maldonado will now have to go to court because her invisible electrical fence is prohibited in the neighborhood"
(cops nod at each other, and the screen fades out)
THE STORY YOU HAVE JUST SEEN IS TRUE
THE NAMES WERE CHANGED
TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT
And she will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law until she signs an a letter fully confirming Officer Friendly's version of events.
"After cops shot her dog and cleared themselves of any wrongdoing..."
So vigilante justice is the only way? Because that's what I'm hearing...
Man, I'd hate to be an atheist, as the only thing keeping me from going all Rambo in these cases is "It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them." Deuteronomy 32:35
Hell was invented because there is no justice in this life.
Hell is best defined as "where God isn't, forever".
And yes, there is little justice here. The only thing that keeps me from becoming judge/jury/executive in these cases is my trust in the One who is just.
Then I guess it's good that you have faith. I don't. What stops me is the fact that I drink too much, and would likely blab about it to someone who would drop a dime.
Good thing I don't drink. By choice, not due to belief.
I suppose my life belief would be something like "eat and drink for tomorrow we die" except it would be "Liberty and Justice for all for tomorrow I die".
After reading too many of these articles (and being under the thumb of these types of jerks during my Marine days), could anyone blame me?
You know when people tell you all the things God did for them and you (and often I) roll your eyes? Yeah, in this case, it's what he keeps me from doing...
My daughter and wife is what keeps my from going all Punisher on these fucks.
And them being here is lucky for me, because reading these stories day in and day out STILL makes me want to go dish out a little retribution.
Don't worry, there's plenty of people with no inhibitions who will kill the occasional cop. It just never seems to be the most deserving pigs who get shot.
A quick scan of the city ordnances didn't show any rules against electrical fences, much less invisible fences. Their search function is for shit, though, so I could have missed something.
Perhaps an intrepid reporter interested in further embarrassing the police department could dig up just what law, exactly, she is supposed to have broken?
One other thought:
If the dog was charging him, the dog would have caught him while he was running away, unless he already had a very healthy lead on the dog. Which doesn't sound possible given the setup here.
Pits are fast. I had one that could run down a cat on a straightway. If a cat can't outrun a pit, no way a person can.
It's a wonder how few crimes are committed according to people accused of committing them. If only there were a dedicated group of people whose job was to investigate violence and determine if the alleged perpetrators were guilty.
But alas, we have to assume that everybody accused of a crime, and who could be stripped of their jobs and pensions and sent to prison, is being perfectly honest when they say they did nothing wrong. No other choice but to trust. It's not like anybody ever lied about something so important.
Is that a dig on the woman, or the cop?
Because seriously, fuck you.
Well this is a guy who wears a very magical costume when he goes to work. How could he possibly lie? This is a cop we're talking about, not some non-government peasant.