I confess I delayed in posting this story because I was convinced that it an April Fool’s joke but various media outlets are reporting that a police officer in Marble Hill, Missouri was forced to resign after she shot to death a threatening . . . Chihauhua. The dog was shot by deputy, Kelly Barks.
Bollinger County Sheriff Leo McElrath insists that “[w]hen I found out the dog that was shot was a Chihuahua, I really was upset.”
Barks shot the dog after she began to search a residence after an arrest. She says that she was confronted by three growling dogs and thought (apparently mistakenly) that the Chihauhau had bitten her. She shot the small dog once and went outside. She then concluded that she had not been shot and went back inside and shot it again — because it was acting aggressively. When the dog went into its kennel, she followed it and shot it a third and fatal time.
One of the reasons I was skeptical was that I could not see how the officer failed to kill a Chihauhau on the first two shots.
We have following a trend of dog killings by officers around the country.
Source: KMOV
I’ve got to agree with Bruce in NJ. Dogs generally love me for some reason but my first girlfriends dog was a Chihuahua, which never ceased attempting to bite me. All of the ones I’ve encountered are truly horrible dogs and one wonders why they were ever bred. That said, if you can’t kill a Chihuahua with 3 shots, that alone should be cause for dismissal from the force for being unable to safely discharge a weapon. Not only does this officer have anger management problems, but she can’t be trusted with a gun.
(The below remark is made in jest; shooting a dog is almost never justified – even a Chihuahua.)
I am a dog lover, and I like almost every breed – except for the miniatures, and especially the Chihuahua and the Mexican Hairless. Why these runts were ever bred (other than, perhaps, to chase vermin down holes) is beyond me. Why would anyone want to take the noble canine form and mutate it into something resembling a rat with a nasty voice?
Oh, I have observed Chihuahuas, and some very few of those that I have observed were among the most vicious dogs I have ever come upon.
I am, based on personal experience, and with some difficulty, able to allow that a Chihuahua might seriously freak someone out.
tomdarch 1, April 4, 2011 at 2:53 pm
J. Brian Harris, Ph.D., P.E. 1, April 4, 2011 at 9:19 am
I am inclined to guess that police work has become so stressful at times that even the best police officers will sometimes make terrible mistakes in response to transiently unmanageable job-related stress.
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Brian, I think you are forgetting about “the banality of evil.” I’m lucky enough to know some current and former Chicago police officers who I perceive to be genuinely good people. You’re absolutely right to start by looking at the stress and difficulty of being a police officer.
But at some point, there are people who either came to the profession for the wrong reasons or who are simply not able to handle the job and the stress. They slide into a state of being, for the sake of succinctness, “evil.”
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I may be “forgetting many things, yet there is one thing many people may forget which I do not forget.
That one thing is sometimes called a “transient psychotic break.”
Having been tortured into a few transient psychotic breaks when I was in second grade, being paddled by the principal (something I have mentioned before), I became terribly familiar with transient psychotic breaks; they kept me from committing suicide.
However, while some transient psychotic breaks take the form of avoiding violence, retaliation or other attempts to settle a supposed score (the route I took), it may be more common for a transient psychotic break to take the form of violence directed toward other than self.
There are phrases often associated with transient psychotic breaks, such as, “I saw red,” “I snapped,” “I don’t know why I did it…” and such.
While some such phrases may be of malingering or deception, some are rather direct regarding how a transient psychotic break can take a “responsible person,” against the person’s will, into being an “irresponsible person” in the legal sense.
The M’Naughton rule gets really messy with regard to transient psychotic breaks.
pete,
“i have a yellow lab, he thinks they’re puppies”
Lol – my dog just looks at them like, “and what do you think you’re going to do?”
Pete,
I agree with your experience with chihauhaus. They are nasty. Even my yellow lab who likes all dogs, is uncomfortable with them.
i have a yellow lab, he thinks they’re puppies
pete,
“… can attest to the ferocity of chihauhaus, …”
I agree – they are feisty little f**kers. It cracks me up when one starts going postal in front of my 70 lb black lab 🙂
But because of their size, no gun needed to restrain them. An adult can easily drop kick one over the goal post 🙂
as a former 13 y/o paper carrier i can attest to the ferocity of chihauhaus, however since they don’t issue 9mm semi-auto pistols to 13 y/o’s i had to make do with a rolled up newspaper.
yet somehow i survived.
Tomdarch: It’s unfortunate that Yukio Mishima committed suicide after an aborted coup attempt in support of the Emporer. Writers.
I’m just glad that I have cats. One would either ignore the officer and go back to sleep on her hassock, while the other would quickly hide. However, neither would be safe if stalked throughout the house.
And what about all the murders of citizens not presenting a threat? If police cadets are given psychological tests before being allowed to caryry guns, tasers, batons, and pepper spray, I suggest that these tests be replaced with ones having more validity.
It is this very banality, or commonplace behavior that scares me.
“Serve and Protect”, my ass.
J. Brian Harris, Ph.D., P.E. 1, April 4, 2011 at 9:19 am
I am inclined to guess that police work has become so stressful at times that even the best police officers will sometimes make terrible mistakes in response to transiently unmanageable job-related stress.
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Brian, I think you are forgetting about “the banality of evil.” I’m lucky enough to know some current and former Chicago police officers who I perceive to be genuinely good people. You’re absolutely right to start by looking at the stress and difficulty of being a police officer.
But at some point, there are people who either came to the profession for the wrong reasons or who are simply not able to handle the job and the stress. They slide into a state of being, for the sake of succinctness, “evil.”
According to the Prof’s description of the situation, “the dog went into its kennel, she followed it and shot it a third and fatal time.” Yep, she COULD have simply closed and latched the gate of the kennel, locking the now-injured dog inside and rendering it harmless to her. Instead, she took advantage of the little dog being trapped, and shot it the third time.
When we hear about gang members or child molesters doing things like this, we clearly see the “evil” in those actions. I suspect it is often stressful being a child molester, but if one of them repeatedly shoots a little dog including once it is trapped in its kennel, we can reasonably conclude that “that child molester was clearly sick and scary, but to murder a dog like that … he was seriously sick and seriously scary!”
In one of Yukio Mishima’s novels, the main character has a severe stutter, and is constantly focused on his own stutter and is constantly mocked for it by others. At one moment he has a revelation – take away his stutter, the object of so much of his own and others’ attention, and he is still himself. When a child molester chases down and murders a little dog, or a police officer chases down and murders a little dog, take away the attributes of being “a child molester” or “a police officer” and what sort of human being is left underneath?
rafflaw,
“I am glad that this officer resigned, but I think she should be charged with animal cruelty in addition to any civil suit that the owner may bring. Disgusting.”
My sentiments exactly. Was she afraid the dog would nip at her ankles?
I’m not crazy about chihuahuas either, but shooting them is rude.
I am glad that this officer resigned, but I think she should be charged with animal cruelty in addition to any civil suit that the owner may bring. Disgusting.
“McElrath said he had not had problems with the deputy in the past and was surprised by her resignation. He said his department is using the incident to review protocol in similar situations.”
Dang, another lost opportunity to include a killing parameter into police policy. Sadly, there are sure to be other opportunities.
Was he looking for union brownie points to let her off?
“even the best police officers will sometimes make terrible mistakes”
No mistake here. The officer followed the dog through the house and shot it repeatedly.
In plain English, the officer is a sadist and an animal abuser and that should have been caught in pre-employment screening.
1) Chihauhuas are not real dogs.
2) Not only are they not real dogs, they are not a threat to anyone not passed out in a pool of their own sick.
3) Although some would look at this kind of action as a public service akin to killing rats, it is still wrong to kill someone’s pet rat.
“Officer” Barks might be better employed in the security realm commensurate with her demonstrated skills in both physical protection and judgment of situations. Something where she doesn’t have a gun.
Like mall security.
I am inclined to guess that police work has become so stressful at times that even the best police officers will sometimes make terrible mistakes in response to transiently unmanageable job-related stress.
that was an obnoxious little bitch.
No, not the dog.
They probably fired her (ok, she resigned) for the cost of the bullets rather than missing the mark…..now if it had been human….well….They are target practice….. and most police agency’s do not have accuracy standards….