$262K Settlement For Owner Of Dog Killed By Police
BY Herschel Smith
8 years, 10 months ago
The owner of a dog shot and killed by police in 2012 will receive a $262,000 settlement from Commerce City in Colorado, according to a city spokeswoman.
On Nov. 24 2012, three Commerce City Police officers responded to reports of a “loose, vicious dog.” Police said Chloe, a 3-year-old dog, aggressively ran toward the officers. During the encounter, Officer Robert Price, shot and killed the dog.
The dog was first shocked with a stun gun and then shot multiple times. A neighbor took cellphone video of Chloe’s death, which was a key piece of evidence in the case.
The viral video showed Chloe cowering and trying to escape.
Price was found not guilty of animal cruelty charges in 2013.
The Animal Law Center says the $262,000 settlement is one of the largest of its kind.
Chloe’s owner, Gary Branson, was out of town when she was shot.
Okay, I have several comments after reading this, and after watching that horrible video in full. First, dog owners should make arrangements for the dog at all times. They are part of the family. A loose dog when you’re out of town is unacceptable and irresponsible.
That said, the police are obviously guilty of animal cruelty and the one doing the shooting should have gone to prison just like Michael Vick.
The officer in the very first part of the video is an overblown, bloated fat ass, and doesn’t need to be on the police force anywhere. The female officer is worthless, and doesn’t understand how to handle the dog. As I’ve said before, “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.”
Within five minutes, I would have been petting Chloe and she would have been laying on her back with me scratching her belly. The officers are hicks and goobers. They know nothing. They are worthless.
Just as bad as it pertains to future engagements, the final officer who shot Chloe – Robert Price – used his handgun with one hand, the other hand flailing wildly behind him. No kidding. Watch the video. No, no, Robert. Do it this way.
What the hell are they teaching these boys in Colorado? Are they teaching them anything at all? My God, I would hate to meet up with these morons, any one of them. To me, they seem dangerous in their ignorance. The dog was no danger. The only danger was because of the idiot cops that day. I hope all the cops in the Commerce City Police Department aren’t that stupid.
A final word about the settlement. I hate it when the city suffers the financial harm for malicious acts of their cowardly police officers, but maybe with enough huge settlements of this sort, cities will begin to hire people who can think.
Robert Price should go to prison, and he certainly shouldn’t be allowed to have a gun. How do you feel about costing your city $262K, Robert? Pretty bad? You should. How do you feel about killing Chloe, Robert? Pretty bad? You should.
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On January 29, 2016 at 10:27 am, Fred said:
“Are they teaching them anything at all?”
I hope that America is learning. Never call the police unless you want someone or something killed. Never. Departments used to hire men who cared and wanted to serve their fellow citizens. They are now hiring bullies instead. Yes sir, they are being trained, to kill anything that does not submit. The full militarization of police is well under way. Never call the police and expect help. We live a country with an internal national security apparatus called homeland security that is spreading its tentacles out into everything including local police training procedures. Honestly, does anybody at all, think this will end well?
On August 29, 2016 at 11:51 am, Michael Jones said:
I agree with most of your statement, but the militarization part I do not. If people in the military would do what some cops have done, they would be rotting in Leavenworth.
On August 29, 2016 at 7:40 pm, Fred said:
That’s why the police are the only ones doing this stuff, for now.
On January 29, 2016 at 6:48 pm, Fred said:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chicago-police-dog_us_56a9495fe4b0016489224a4e?utm_hp_ref=crime
On January 29, 2016 at 8:51 pm, Ned Weatherby said:
People typically moan and groan about this type of settlement, because the taxpayers pick up the tab. However, several things seem to be SOP whenever a LEO is caught on tape performing any act that would send one of us to jail. First, grand juries, with all their latitude, rarely indict a LEO for what is clearly tortuous conduct. Second, if they are indicted, the petit jury will rarely convict for conduct that would put the rest of us under the jail.
Third, if they do happen to be convicted, the court will sentence them with an hand slap, and order them to say they’re sorry. Since I’ve previously written about how the system is broken, and mentioned the fact that no lawyers seem interested in fixing it, the only option is to punish the taxpayers in the jurisdiction in which the tort was committed. So be it. I’m good with that.
And to heck with the purported “fact” that police have a dangerous job. Looks like the only thing dangerous to the LEO’s in Commerce City is the addictive nature of the carbs in local doughnut house. That, and the fact that being a morbidly obese LEO Tub-O-Goo – or “BUFF” LEO – (Big Ugly Fat F**ker – sorry – “Fellow”) could cause heart problems while performing one of those dangerous acts – like breaking a sweat while trying to take a pet into custody without just shooting it.
Let the locals pay. BTW – my guess is, the jury calculated a downward departure from their initial calculations because the dog owner was also recalcitrant in looking out for his dog while out of town. Perhaps there’s more in the story than meets the eye. However, my position is – screw the local taxpayers. If their tax bill go up, MAYBE, just maybe, they’ll start paying attention, instead of paying victims.
I have to say – I’ m thankful that in my neck of the woods, LEO’s don’t shoot dogs. They probably all have dogs. Maybe the police and sheriff’s departments in central Arizona need to put on seminars for other PD’s regarding how to deal with people’s pets.
On January 30, 2016 at 4:08 am, Daniel Barger said:
All three of the badgemonkeys need to be in jail for the crime of falsifying a police report.
They LIED in their reports and those LIES were exposed….once again….by video they
were unaware of.
Badgemonkeys shoot dogs for a number of reasons. First because deep inside they are
cowards. They are afraid…..like most sociopaths and schoolyard bully’s they are deeply
scared of life and anytime anything occurs where they are not in 100% complete and total
control that fear looms up and takes over resulting in poor judgment, bad decisions and often
violence.
Second….they shoot pets BECAUSE THEY CAN. Rarely if ever are there personal
consequences for exercising their psychopathic need to cause pain and suffering. On occasion
the taxpayers are punished for their misconduct but they personally are held blameless, and that is because they are the hired muscle of the sociopaths in power. They exist and have jobs solely to
impose the will of the state…meaning petty politicians….on society. That means the people in power turn a blind eye to their blatant abuse and criminality because they need these bully’s pinned to badges to keep society in it’s place.