WV State Trooper Aims Gun At Dog, Shoves Woman Around
BY Herschel Smith
9 years, 4 months ago
PARKERSBURG, W.Va. – A disturbing video of a West Virginia state trooper pushing a woman to the ground after she engaged him while he aimed his pistol at a dog is going viral.
In the video, just moments after seeing the trooper draw his gun on the dog, the woman is heard shouting, “You can’t do that,” before confronting the officer. The officer then grabs her by the arm and pushes her to the ground.
It is unclear why the trooper drew his pistol at the dog. Troopers were reportedly there after receiving a call about two neighbors having a dispute.
Here is the video.
I speak doggy, so let me translate for the trooper and any other LEOs who might be reading this and regularly face animals.
Dog: “Hey asshole – yea, I’m talking to you! Who are you and what are you doing in my area of operations? Are you a threat or are you here to play? I like to play, but I want to make sure you aren’t here to hurt someone before I trust you. No one properly introduced us.”
That’s about it. The dog’s tail was still feathering around, without biasing right or left (which can be an indicator of other things). No teeth were shown, no lunging occurred, no aggression other than coming out to meet the new person in his area.
If I had been there and assuming I had five minutes with the dog, I would have had him the back yard playing around and running after sticks while the bullies did the boring work of sorting out human psychology. We would have been buddies. There are certain things you do, and certain things you don’t do. It’s always better to have someone properly introduce you to the dog rather than take the only connection you have with the dog and throw her around. Dumb move. Really boneheaded. This is grammar school level stuff, and school boys know how to do better.
Never put your hands towards the dog’s hindquarters unless he knows you well – that’s threatening (Sort of like you wouldn’t walk behind a horse unless you know the horse well, and the horse is a mare or gelding and you let the horse know you are going to do that. Never walk behind a stud unless you want to die). Patting the dog on the head is a privilege you don’t have unless the dog grants it to you. Rubbing the dog on the back is good, usually, and sometimes if he finds it acceptable, I can rub the side of the dog’s head within seconds of meeting him. This is a good first step, just behind a few minutes of verbal exchange.
Voice commands are critical, and voice inflection, tonality and timbre (or tone color) make or break your communications with the animal. Learn it. Practice it. Do it. Take time with it, and if you live in a dense urban area where you cannot work with farm animals, travel on the weekends to a place where you can, or move permanently. It’s that important.
As for the trooper, you embarrassed yourself and your department. You acted like a little bully boy. Instead, you should have learned to adapt and improvise, since you had the most valuable asset at your disposal you possibly could, i.e., the dog’s owner. You threw away your asset and then had nothing.
Prior:
Note To Cops And Survivalists: The World Is Full Of Animals, Embrace It!
More On Animals, Cops, Logistics And Survival
Ventura County Sheriff: Coward
Grieving Texas Dog Owners Want Cops Trained In How Not To Kill Animals
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On August 18, 2015 at 5:01 am, Daniel Barger said:
Newsflash…..the never ending news reports of badgemonkeys shooting dogs exists for two fundamental reasons. First many, perhaps most, are bully’s. Bully’s are invariably cowards.
They shoot the dog because they are scared. They have no business wearing a badge.
Second….those that aren’t just flat ass cowards are sociopaths. They ENJOY violence.
They shoot dogs because they like killing things…and because it scares people when they do it.
This gives them ‘gina’ tingles….a strange pseudosexual satisfaction. And their political bosses
not only allow the poodle shooting but encourage it. It’s a direct message aimed at the sheeple
designed to scare and intimidate….to keep them in line.
On August 18, 2015 at 6:40 am, Bryan Woodman said:
So. Anyone in the local AO know the trooper’s name? Possibly time to harass said LEO where he lives. Make HIM squirm and be embarassed. Use your imagination. ‘Nuff said.
On August 18, 2015 at 6:07 pm, VonZorch Imperial Researcher said:
Don’t forget about, Command Responsibility, put his supervisors in on the fun.
On August 19, 2015 at 1:41 pm, BullPasture said:
He needs a bat to the head.
On August 18, 2015 at 8:53 am, UNCLEELMO said:
After closing the bar and being driven home by the bartender, my 43 year old neighbor dropped dead in the blackberry bushes along the rural road in front of my house. After calling 911 (early on a Sunday morning), the first to arrive was a fire medic van. I showed the two fire guys where the body was, and the owners dog was also with us. He would bark if we got too close to his Dad, but was otherwise non-threatening.
After 45 minutes, a young, overweight deputy sheriff showed up, and as he walked up to us Blue started to bark at him. His first reaction was to pull his sidearm. I said ‘Hey!’ and he lowered his weapon. He then walked up to us, holstered the gun, and said ‘I’d like to shoot that dog’.
Blue was an Australian Sheppard. I think I can guess what this guy would have done if Blue had been a Pit Bull.
On August 18, 2015 at 9:53 am, Fred said:
The woman gets between an officer with his weapon drawn and her dog. Now that’s a hero. That is American. “you can’t do that” she says. It is awesome to see that courage in the face danger over a wrong is still alive in these united states. Some would call it stupid but isn’t love just that? loyalty and respect! Gentlemen, she is the marryin’ kinda gal! if she isn’t married already somebody should snatch her up.
On August 18, 2015 at 12:15 pm, Archer said:
+1!
On August 18, 2015 at 12:52 pm, Archer said:
I admit having a hard time understanding why so many LEOs seem to interpret the mere presence of a dog (ANY dog) as a direct threat to their lives.
Is dog. Is not tiger.
Even if you haven’t been “formally” introduced to a dog by its owner, there are easy ways to introduce yourself, and it only takes about 10 seconds to convince most dogs you’re not a threat to them or their families. You might not be “buddies” (that takes longer), but at least the dog’s not in “alert/defense” mode and you can approach and talk to the owner.
It’s really not that hard!
On August 18, 2015 at 4:11 pm, Sam1427 said:
In Colorado two years ago, a cop shot a friendly dog carrying a rawhide bone when she went to the edge of her property line to check him out as the moron cop at the wrong address tried to cross the property line. The cop drew his gun and shot and killed the poor dog with her distraught owner watching. The owner filed a lawsuit, backed up by a neighbor’s video which showed the dog was not a threat.
Long story short, the owner won a settlement and based on her experience and others the state legislature passed a bill requiring all cops take training on how to act around animals to avoid shooting them. Police academies and law enforcement departments should all provide such mandatory training. The only way they will is to sue the heck out of them whenever these avoidable killings of pets occur. Too late for that owner and pet, I know, but it’s a start.
On August 18, 2015 at 7:19 pm, Johnny said:
The way I see it is this. These guys train and train with weapons, and probably 98% of them never get to justifiably draw their service pistol in the line of duty. For 99% of those guys, that’s just fine. For the other few, it’s like that movie Jarhead, where the sniper wants to take that shot so bad, see that pink mist, he probably had a woody. The socio-political climate being what it is today, it’s much easier to justify shooting a dog than it is shooting a person. This guy, and the others like him, are dying to use their service weapon on something. Killing a dog is not going to get you jail time, cost you your job, pension, or probably even a reprimand. I heard of one guy who shot a snapping turtle.Just because. Of course, he also got caught watching gay porn at the station.
On August 18, 2015 at 10:29 pm, l2a3 said:
When HE pulled his handgun for no reason and shot my dog “I WAS AFRAID FOR MY LIFE” so I shot him. Sound justified to me.
On August 19, 2015 at 5:07 am, Mark III said:
This dickwad is clearly not the least bit afraid of the dog he’s pointing the gun at. He’s pointing it casually, or maybe hopefully, and the moment the woman steps in front of him, he wrangles her, never paying another moments attention to the “threat” he was just pointing his gun at.
Mark III
On August 20, 2015 at 12:53 am, runnindeer said:
No doubt many would think this is a stupid question , but do the police departments ever find out what kind-if any -phobias or fears the officers have before they let them put on their guns and go out? It would seem that if a person is unusually afraid of something they won’t deal with situations that might include that fearful thing. Dogs, spiders, people of a certain race or just something random that might happen to remind a traumatized person of an incident?