We have another controversy (here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here and here) over the shooting of a dog by a police officer and the allegation that the officer lied about the dog threatening him before the shooting. In Omaha, Chris Schulte was walking his dog near his home when officers told him to stop because they had cut off the street in search of a criminal suspect. Schulte unwisely and inexplicably refused and continued to walk. That resulted in his arrest. Nothing particularly noteworthy there. However, witnesses later heard a shot and an officer reported that Schulte’s dog, Teela, had threatened — an account later contradicted according to the family by a security camera. Teela is a Labrador/golden retriever mix and has never had a reported incident of biting or threatening anyone.
Two officers — identified as Officer Schuster and Officer Clement — claimed in their reports that the “suspect’s dog became aggressive, growled at officers, and showed its teeth before being shot and killed.”
A neighbor, Tim Wagner, told reporters that he saw the incident through a night vision security camera. He insists that the dog was not aggressive or threatening before being shot. Wagner knows the dog and was shocked by the killing since the animal is viewed as extremely friendly.
In the meantime, police have charged Schulte with obstructing police and resisting arrest.
The video below shows the arrest and the shooting of Teela, which occurs quickly after the police throw Schulte to the ground. The video does not show clearly whether the dog was growling or showing its teeth. The witness insists that it was not. However, taking down an owner in this fashion would normally produce some response from a dog. That does not mean that the officer was justified in the shooting. Indeed, the shooting occurred so quickly, that it is hard to see how much the police officer observed before the killing. The officer immediately put the gun on the dog and fired within seconds.
Here is the video and you can reach your own conclusion:
Source: WOWT
On the other hand, I am an advocate of non leathal weapons first, when possible.
I’m tired of stupid people not taking responsibility for their own actions. A cop says to stop. YOU STOP!!!
When will dog owners finally learn to shoot back?
Not a comment on this article, but a link to another police-shoot-dog incident. A friend recently called my attention to your collection of these events and I noted there is no mention of this one from 2009 in Minnesota, where police shot a dog that was CHAINED and restrained with a CATCH POLE.
I could not find an email address so am posting this as a comment:
Read the Whole Article Here:
http://animalarkshelter.org/animal/ArkArticles.nsf/EmailArticle/4BF4CEC357D45F3F862576340072E840
there is a huge problem with police violence in omaha. the old boy network is in full swing.
Oh good grief. I certainly hope that officer was never a farmer or else all the cattle, pigs, goats, and chickens would be dead for being unhappy with him.
Tonight the police union president John Wells defended the shooting of Teela – the black lab murdered by officers Schuster and Clements. BIG SURPRISE! The owner of Teela needs to find a good lawyer, and sue these 2 officers civilly for abuse of power and animal abuse. Thank goodness for the video tape – it will be her only evidence because in addition to using terrible judgement these 2 officers lied in their report about Teela being aggressive.
I agree with many of the posts here. We the People, need to demand some change in our out of control law enforcement that get away with way too much. Especially when it comes to killing family pets at random. We hear about this happening more and more lately all over the country. This a…hole cop will probably get off with nothing, but if he can so easily cold bloodedly kill this helpless and harmless dog, what else does this guy kill that no one knows about? This guy is obviously trigger happy and an animal abuser. Needs to be fired and get psychiatric help. If any of us non cops abused an animal like this, we would be arrested and fined and told we were “Disturbed”.
Until owners shoot back
Shooting the dog is so cheap for the city that it’s good policy even if there’s no evidence of aggression. Even if the owner is dumb enough to sue in the face of police harassment and the threat of charges, the dog is chattel so the amount that can be recovered from the city is pennies compared to what it would take to pay for an officer’s medical bills and sick leave should they be bitten. And can you imagine how much money it would take to train these officers on how to deal with common animals they are likely to encounter on a regular basis? No, clearly shooting the animal pre-emptively is the best possible solution for everyone involved wearing a badge.
These LEO’s were out of control and should be arrested for the assault on the owner and the killing of the dog. While any dog can get aggessive,
the Labs and golden retrievers are some of the most people friendly dogs that you can have. Even if this guy kept walking, wouldn’t the prudent thing to do would be to stop the owner without throwing him to the ground?
“if the man just stopped it would have never happen” non sequitur. Those cops were not rational. You don’t know what they would have done. They have a tough job. Mistakes may be forgiven, lying is not. That is premeditated.