We have been following a growing trend of alleged unjustified shootings of pet dogs by police officers. We can now add a case out of Chicago where a 7-month-old miniature bull terrier, called “The Colonel” by neighbors, was shot by a police officer. A lawsuit names Officer Brandon Pettigrew as the cop who twice shot The Colonel, which weighs less than 30 pounds. According to witnesses, the officer then calmly returned to writing the ticket and handed it to the distraught owner. The police returned three days later, according to media reports, and asked why the owners were speaking to the media . . . and proceeded to give them a ticket for having a dog off a leash.
The incident happened near my family’s house on the north side of Chicago.
On Saturday afternoon, witnesses say that the Colonel followed his owner outside of the owner’s gated home where the officer was writing a parking ticket for the van of Al Phillips. According to witnesses, the officer warned him about having a dog without a leash twice and then proceeded to shoot the puppy twice. Witnesses say the puppy was not threatening the officer, who then proceeded to finish his ticket and give it to a distraught Phillips.
The Colonel was rushed to an emergency vet and had five hours of surgery to save his life.
What is incredible is that the police returned later to the scene while Phillips was speaking with a reporter and demanded to know why he contacted the media. According to the report, they then gave him a ticket for not keeping his dog on a leash.
That was three days after the incident.
The ticket deepens the controversy. I have never heard of a leash ticket being written three days after such a common occurrence. I walk our dog in Chicago regularly during holidays and often see dogs off the leash. The ticket raises concerns of retaliation. It was entirely inappropriate for the officers to ask for an explanation of why the family was speaking to the media, if this is found to have occurred. The presence of a reporter adds credence to the allegation. To then combine such an improper question with a ticket only magnifies the misconduct.
Even if the ticket was not retaliation for embarrassing the CPD, it seems calculated to cover the officer for the shooting by citing the owner after-the-fact. Unfortunately, Cook County Anita Alvarez is not viewed as particularly protective of citizens in confrontations with the police.
The lawsuit is likely to get more information and action than official channels, unfortunately. Among other things, it could allow for discovery not only on the incident but the governing policies of the CPD.
Source: CBS
I’m not sure exactly why but this site is loading incredibly slow for me.
Is anyone else having this problem or is it a problem on my end?
I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.
Turley is a Big Government totalitarian liberal. This is what you get, Jonny.
It will stop when owners start shooting cops who shoot their pets.
The dog owner should have shot the damned officer; that would be justice.
Largest Street Gang in America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qEr_mZf06Y
@28:54 if you want to see what the police do if you simply request a form to file a complaint.
Back in the ’60s and ’70s my hippie friends were afraid of getting beaten up by the police. Today, they might be shot. These days, cops reach for their guns first, even though they have more non-lethal options than ever before. A cop who will shoot an non-aggressive animal without a second thought is just working himself up to the day when he shoots an unarmed, non-threatening citizen in cold blood. I avoid even the smallest encounters with police.
Prostate acting up?
“MikeS, Google it for chrissake.”
Nick,
I googled it:
“The list was complied through a data search of the number of convictions for public corruption between 1976 and 2010.”
As I suspected this “study” was not done in depth, nor with any scientific accuracy, thus cannot be considered as factual evidence. The raw number of convictions is nowhere near a valid assessment of generalized corruption. As a matter of fact one could argue the reverse in stating this list shows the Cities most intolerant of corruption, since they actually prosecute it. The really corrupt Cities and counties are the ones that don’t prosecute corruption.
This is the problem with much of what you post Nick and why I call you on it. You tend to make broad generalizations based on anecdotes, speculation and specious sources. This list is like the one that names the best educational institutions in the country. It is methodologically superficial and evinces a lack of desire to really seriously investigate the target subject. As I stated before I hope that your PI work is more serious in finding true results, than the comments that you make.
MikeS, Google it for chrissake. It takes 20 seconds. Are the Jets causing you to be a curmudgeon? Life’s too short to be pissy..you know that better than most.
You know I left out NYC, Miami, LA…… They are up in the top 10 I’m sure….or maybe top 5…..
Just before he left she yelled to Clemenza, “DON’T FORGET THE CANNOLI!”nick the spinner….
————————————
use your eyes dude! how many times did that cannoli just not make it home…..
BD, Belushi has a lot in common with some previous writer, now.
Or was that quote from Animal House? I get John Belushi mixed up with some previous writer.
More than a year ago a lot of two legged creatures called humanoids were in the foreplay of “Occupy Wall Street!”. Then they eased off for the election. Well its time for them to get off the arses in Chicago and put their two legs into action and: Occupy Pigsty!
Four legs good, two legs baaaaad!
–Animal Farm