By Darren Smith, Weekend Contributor
We previously discussed a disturbing report of a family pet shot by Rains County Sheriff’s Deputy Jerrod Dooley, HERE. The incident stemmed when homeowner Cole Middleton arrived home about 11:00 AM and discovered his residence had been burglarized and several items, including all his firearms were stolen. Several hours later, while Cole was working in a field harvesting grass, Deputy Dooley arrived. The deputy then claimed he was threatened by Cole Middleton’s cow dog Candy when she darted out from a pickup truck and was shot. Despite being begged by Cole to put down Candy to end her suffering, Deputy Dooley instead calls for help and pulls back in his patrol car to wait for “backup”. Cole, having no firearms to perform a coup de grâce, suffered the terror of having to drown Candy in a bucket to end it for her.
Newly released dash cam video capturing much of the incident shows Deputy Dooley arriving at the residence and pulling behind a pickup truck. Candy is lying down in the bed of the truck and when the patrol vehicle pulls up she stands and begins barking with tail wagging. Candy continues to bark and then jumps out of the bed and is subsequently shot by Deputy Dooley. Shortly thereafter, Cole walks up and Deputy Dooley informs him that he had to shoot his dog. Cole is understandably distressed yet the deputy calls for backup saying he needs “help” and is shown backing out of the driveway.
Sheriff David Traylor fired Deputy Dooley and later stated to a KLTV reporter that it was for Dooley’s safety because of numerous threats made against him and the department. He added that it is the safest move for the department and the deputy.
In the three decades Sheriff Traylor stated he was in law enforcement, he had never seen a department receive so many threats from a single incident. Ultimately he said thas was the reason Dooley was fired. The hundreds of calls from outraged citizens was beginning to detract from other responsibilities the department is charged with and Sheriff Traylor believed having Dooley on the force put he and other deputies at risk. Dooley had been employed for six months. The sheriff confirmed that a criminal investigation into the shooting is underway and is headed by the Texas Rangers.
Sheriff Traylor stated his department is implementing policy changes he hopes will reduce the likelihood of a similar tragedy reoccurring; such as waiting in the car if possible or honking a horn to have the dog’s owner to come by and address the dog. But the sheriff was pragmatic about these policies by adding “you can put the policies out there and follow them as best you can…but it will be a matter of common sense.”
Candy’s owner Cole Middleton said he is glad that Deputy Dooley was fired and still hoped there would be a criminal prosecution for the shooting.
One reason for Deputy Dooley’s sudden departure from the Rains County Sheriff’s Office might be that as a six month employee, he is likely on probation and in this respect is subject to termination at the pleasure of the sheriff before a civil service tenure is afforded him. During the probationary time it gives the department an opportunity to vet the employee for suitability for a career with the department.
In the opinion of your author, the decision of Sheriff Traylor was sound. Deputy Dooley in this incident displayed a fundamental lack of proper discretion in dealing with a use of force issue and when faced with a despondent person (Cole Middleton) over having shot his dog, Dooley chose to call for “Help” and flee the scene. Calling for Help in the law enforcement world is a far more urgent distress call than calling for “backup”. Such a call, paired up with him backing out of the scene, will cause responding officers to believe a dire threat is being faced by the calling officer. This causes responding officers to respond faster and puts them at a higher risk and takes them away from even other in-progress calls. This type of incident was not something that Deputy Dooley should have backed out of. It is very indicative of future performances where he is going to be likely one who will call for help / backup at the drop of a hat and in a rural county environment where he will seldom be partnered up with another deputy, he likely is not suited to be a deputy sheriff.
He also showed cowardice in not wanting to face the situation of putting down Candy when decency and the law demanded the coup de grâce mercy be given. And how quick will he have been to shoot another animal or person when faced with a difficult situation where the use of a firearm is clearly not warranted otherwise. Jarrod Dooley’s actions are indicative that it is not worth the risk in him being afforded the duties of a deputy sheriff.
It seems clear that in some measure, the Middleton family will see some justice in the matter.
By Darren Smith
Sources:
KLTV
Rains County Sheriff’s Office (Photo Credit)
The views expressed in this posting are the author’s alone and not those of the blog, the host, or other weekend bloggers. As an open forum, weekend bloggers post independently without pre-approval or review. Content and any displays or art are solely their decision and responsibility.
Dredd,
I have gotten it once. I’m no expert, but I think it is a Firefox problem.
Charlton S. Stanley, PhD, ABPP,
Someone may have messed with your link or something (“I have already been contacted to do a re-evaluation on this officer, and refused to do it. In some cases, I already know enough to recognize a lost cause when I see it”) … the link is on the words “this officer”.
When I clicked on it, I got this message: “This Connection is Untrusted You have asked Firefox to connect securely to jonathanturley.org, but we can’t confirm that your connection is secure. Normally, when you try to connect securely, sites will present trusted identification to prove that you are going to the right place. However, this site’s identity can’t be verified.”
I went to my bookmarks and loaded jonathanturley.org just fine after that … it is that one page where the message comes up.
Anyone else get this message?
Paul,
Chuck stated he would withdraw the certification in order to have the officer fully checked out. That isn’t prejudging. It is a common sense approach to a possible rogue officer who is shooting people’s dogs.
Officer was responding to a call. The owner should have put the dog up. I can’t believe someone could get fired for shooting a dog
I’ve had dogs for 25 years. You can see Candy in the truck wagging her tail and with ears back. Then she calmly jumps out of the truck still wagging her tail. Ears back with wagging tail do not indicate an aggressive attack mode. That combination typically indicates shyness of the dog in its approach to someone. Officer Dooley’s feeble attempt to fain sorrow with dry tears is likely a pathetic attempt to display sorrow that he learned from inmates when he worked at the jail. I believe the fact that he has hired an attorney instead of just honorably removing himself from the situation indicates he has no honor .He is purely an example of the description in the old song “the Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” the line is “the big belly sheriff grabs the gun and says why’d you do it.” they hang the innocent guy, slap each other on the back and get home to dinner. Officer Dooley, you are pathetic. Other descriptive words could be used, but my email response would not be printed.
BTAF learned that lesson at Waco, came for a raid & shot the dogs, only to have a 50 cal open up on them…then all down hill from there…
Paul S
No more intimidation from you and Mr. Spinelli. I will speak up every time you bully.
keebler – do you feel intimidated? Your buddy does and I am just checking on you. Consider this a wellness check.
Knock it off, Paul S. It isn’t civil.
I’m on topic for you. Remember Mr Keebler to you. Elves work for Mr Keebler. We don’t hire shills, just elves.
My goodness – the two of you together again. Did you set your alarms for the same time? the keebler elf and his friend – still off topic.
Paul S
Knock it off with the elf remarks. It is Not cute.
Paul,
I’m sure if you reapply for clown college they have a seat reserved for you. You’ve got all of the materials to do it this time.
Dear Keebler Elf – please stay on topic. I know that I am your target de jour, but try to add to the discussions as well.
If this incident had happened in any jurisdiction where I do POST examinations*, I would have contacted the Sheriff to let him know I would be calling the POST commission to withdraw his POST mental health certification until he had a full-blown fitness for duty examination. In our state, no deputy or other peace officer can continue to work in an environment where they might come into direct contact with the public, suspects or inmates.
Actions like this raise questions of mental health fitness, which should be addressed with an examination far more extensive than the usual screening a candidate receives. Under EEOC, the usual screening examination is given post-offer, but pre-employment. A full mental health POST exam for fitness to return to work takes at least one full day, and possibly two days, depending on what is suspected regarding the officer’s mental stability.
I have already been contacted to do a re-evaluation on this officer, and refused to do it. In some cases, I already know enough to recognize a lost cause when I see it.
__________________________
*Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission
Carlton – I am so glad you do not pre-judge your potential patients.
There’s lots of farming in that area, there is also lots of meth made as well. The deputy needs to go.
Just because the dogs tail is wagging so not mean it is happy to see you. It is how the tail wags. That being said, the deputy deserves to be fired.
The dog’s response of ears back and tail wagging and cowering submissively in response to a human’s voice, as shown in the video, is typical of a non-threatening dog. Of course, this does not mean that the dog might not in an instant change his disposition and bite.
By the way, are you related to Deputy Dooley’s attorney, Peter Schulte?
david – no relation that I know of.
It sounds like the Deputy actually caused the dog to jump out of the truck. When the Deputy gets out of his car, you can hear him say, “Hey boy. Come here partner. What’re you fussing at?” The dog responds with ears back and tail wagging, eventually jumping out of the truck to meet this new friend. Seconds later he tells the dog to get back, and then he fires two shots.
More video of Deputy giving his account with lots of tears:
http://www.kltv.com/story/25346092/deputy-breaks-down-says-id-be-upset-if-it-were-my-dog
There should be no civil service or government employee unions. Someone that needs to be fire needs to be fired.d
You cannot ever know what a dog is going to do. That’s the bottom line. I remember being at a person’s house once. I didn’t know the people. They had a pitbull. I was fearful of the pitbull. The owner said the dog doesn’t bite. The dog bit me and I left them a nasty note about how the dog bites. – I come to find out a few months later from another guy who was with me there that this dog took a little girl’s face off. That made the news.
I have not watched the video either…nor do I intend to. Truth is, I can no longer bring myself to even read “police officer shoots family dog” stories let alone watch it happen on video. It sickens and saddens me that much.
Meanwhile…I was completely blown away by the comments made by an officer who posted a link to this story over on officer.com. I don’t think I have ever seen a cop take a more righteous(and right) stand. I should say I’m not sure about this business of offending officers getting targeted for reprisal..but hey, if that would help put an end to this despicable trend of canine homicide…..
http://forums.officer.com/t193418/
“This is why you never shoot at peoples pets. He is lucky no one targeted him.
Some people are not good at reading pets. Doggy sees you, he’s excited, someone to play with me. tail is wagging, he jumps up to greet you. Vs
Doggy is growling, ears back, baring teeth, aggressive bark, charging at you. you are an intruder. BIG difference.
This cop made a pisz poor decision and now it cost him his job.
Have not seen the video, but the necropsy showed that from the trajectory of the bullet the dog was retreating when shot. The bullet entered behind the ear and exited through the front of the face.
Good result! Thanks for following up Darren.