AUSTIN, Texas – The fatal shooting of a pet dog by an Austin Police Department officer over the weekend is sparking outrage near and far.
As of Monday evening, close to 22,000 people had hit the "Like" button on a Facebook page called “Justice for Cisco,” the name of Austinite Michael Paxton's dog, which was killed by an officer.
On Saturday afternoon, a passerby called 911 around 4:30 to report a domestic disturbance.
What the responding officer, APD Officer Thomas Griffin, didn’t know when he arrived minutes later, is that the 911 caller mistakenly gave the wrong address.
Upon arrival, the first person Officer Griffin encountered was Michael Paxton and his blue heeler, named Cisco.
Austin police confirmed Monday that Officer Griffin got out of his patrol car with his weapon drawn.
In audio captured on Officer Griffin’s dashboard camera, you can hear the officer give Paxton commands to put his hands up and to control his dog. Austin police removed a few seconds of the tape where Griffin fatally shoots the dog.
“Why didn't you get your dog when I told you to get your dog?" questioned Officer Griffin.
"I didn't know! You just came around the corner and told me to put my hands up. What am I supposed to do?” replied Paxton.
"But you knew your dog was back there, correct?" said Grffin.
“I didn't know anybody was here. I was just walking to my truck,” said Paxton.
Griffin told superiors at APD that the blue heeler was running toward him in an aggressive manner.
Paxton says Cisco would never attack anyone but admits that the dog was running toward Officer Griffin.
“He did challenge him. He came out of the yard barking, running towards him, as he probably would for anybody,” said Paxton.
Sgt. David Daniels says APD does not have a policy regarding aggressive animals.
“We're sorry that the dog owner lost his dog over the incident," said Sgt. Daniels. "It's an unfortunate situation, but the officer was basically in retreat, and he fired his weapon in self-defense.”
Officer Griffin remains on full-duty pending an internal review of the incident, which is customary whenever an officer fires a weapon.
SOURCE
Thanks to Irish for the link
And here's a letter from the Chief of Police in Austin.
Chief Acevedo's response to the death of Cisco
We are receiving thousands of e-mails and telephone calls on this matter. Many of the written and telephonic contacts with members of our department have been vile, and included serious threats, including threats to shoot our officer(s). I personally crafted the following response and I apologize in advance if you are offended by this fact. I am one person, with a department to run, a city to protect, and a family to love. I assure you that we will have some positive outcomes out of this incident, but we have to conduct our review in accordance with the law and our own policies, regardless of public sentiment. After meeting with and personally speaking with Officer Griffin (who is part of a household that includes family dogs, like most of our police department families), I know he feels badly for Mr. Paxton and Cisco. Officer Griffin has requested to personally meet with Mr. Paxton to extend his condolences. I have extended this offer to Mr. Paxton and he has indicated he will contact me when he is ready to meet with Officer Griffin.
The hyper-vigilance issue I refer to below is something that we will have to consider and monitor closely throughout our department and it has to be part of our review. As to the mob mentality I reference below, sorry, but when people are calling us and directing profanity laced insults and threats toward our employee(s) in writing and on telephone calls, I can’t think of how else to describe it. While I expect to be subjected to public scrutiny, I don’t expect people in this department to be subjected to the treatment they are receiving. Finally, please share this e-mail with whomever you would like, I stand by every word.
SOURCE
Hey, people are fucking pissed. Folks are getting sick and fucking tired of our police running rampant over the citizens.
SOURCE
Thanks to Irish for the link
*****
And here's a letter from the Chief of Police in Austin.
Chief Acevedo's response to the death of Cisco
We are receiving thousands of e-mails and telephone calls on this matter. Many of the written and telephonic contacts with members of our department have been vile, and included serious threats, including threats to shoot our officer(s). I personally crafted the following response and I apologize in advance if you are offended by this fact. I am one person, with a department to run, a city to protect, and a family to love. I assure you that we will have some positive outcomes out of this incident, but we have to conduct our review in accordance with the law and our own policies, regardless of public sentiment. After meeting with and personally speaking with Officer Griffin (who is part of a household that includes family dogs, like most of our police department families), I know he feels badly for Mr. Paxton and Cisco. Officer Griffin has requested to personally meet with Mr. Paxton to extend his condolences. I have extended this offer to Mr. Paxton and he has indicated he will contact me when he is ready to meet with Officer Griffin.
The hyper-vigilance issue I refer to below is something that we will have to consider and monitor closely throughout our department and it has to be part of our review. As to the mob mentality I reference below, sorry, but when people are calling us and directing profanity laced insults and threats toward our employee(s) in writing and on telephone calls, I can’t think of how else to describe it. While I expect to be subjected to public scrutiny, I don’t expect people in this department to be subjected to the treatment they are receiving. Finally, please share this e-mail with whomever you would like, I stand by every word.
SOURCE
*****
Hey, people are fucking pissed. Folks are getting sick and fucking tired of our police running rampant over the citizens.
SUE THE BASTARDS BACK TO THE STONE AGE!
ReplyDeleteHis owner called him Griffin, but to Obama he's "what's for dinner"...
ReplyDeleteSo voicing displeasure in a strong manner regarding the overly authoritative ACTIONS of an officer is "Mob" mentality, but 5 cops beating and kicking the shit out of some guy on the ground with his hads cuffed behind his back is "Just doin' my job"
ReplyDeleteFuck cops like that, and obama too.
I'll keep that in mind.
Control your Dog !
ReplyDeletePut your hands up !
Whichever you do I get to shoot
Isn't it a trip being a SuperKop ?
Peace Officers and LEOs are NOT the same
Something's got to be done about these badge-heavy trigger-happy fucks. "I got a gun and I can use it if I want to!" seems to be their mantra.
ReplyDeleteWhat the fuck are they carrying pepper spray around for if they never fucking use it? Postmen and -women and meter readers all over the country deal with more dogs in a day than most cops will in a career and all they carry is OC. A dog's nose is (if I remember right) on average 30,000 times more sensitive to smells than a human. A shot of OC to the snout will stop a dog in his tracks.
I'm held to a "proportional response" standard if I get into a situation but it seems cops aren't required to do anything but say, "I felt threatened." and every other member of officialdom says, "Well, he's a highly-trained law enforcement officer, we can't question his judgement." Bull-fucking-shit.
Geezus Kenny, why ya gotta post this kinda stuff?
ReplyDeleteI was a cop for 25 years. I will tell you this.
Cops have a job to do. We are not required to lose a pound of flesh from an unleashed dog while doing so. Nowhere in that story did I see any attempt by this dog owner to restrain or have any voice control over the dog. That is just fucking ir- responsible.
But then who gives a shit about the thousands of dog bite victims and the occasional kids who get killed and maimed by dogs? Dogs with owners like this guy? I guess that's just tough shit.
I had a blue heeler. The nastiest , meanest dog, I ever saw. Twice I took her out, twice she bit people. I had no control over that maniac dog. The dog stayed in my backyard after that- I couldn't kill her.
I never had to shoot a dog in my career. One did bite me but not bad enough that it was worth a problem. (That was a blue heeler too, btw) But I will guarantee you that if one attacked me- I would have. No apologies.
Mostly I am ok with the hate cop rants, but not all of them. This is one of those.
Fuck Obama
Oh hell send the remains to the white house, bammy can have puggs in a blanket...........
ReplyDeleteSorry Brian, but the article reads that he got out of his car with his gun drawn. He was answering a DD call and when he arrives, even though there's no sign of violence or even a disturbance, he exits his vehicle with his gun drawn. Yup, that's one way to keep a situation under control - shoot the fucking dog. This gunslinger is an idiot.
ReplyDeleteThere are other ways of dealing with small dogs other than shooting them.
I'm sticking with my outrage here.
There are some good cops out there but those who speed to the donut shop for a free handout and others that play loose and fast with the authority they have been given give them all a bad name. Many push their authority up too and across that dividing line between enforcement and tyrany. No one likes bullies, but some police are, in fact, just that.
ReplyDeleteBrian, the dog was on his owner's property. The officer had no damn business being there, it was the wrong address. I am sick and fucking tired of this "officer safety" mantra being chanted, along with "quit resisting" by the thugs in blue. If you want the excessive salary, the platinum benefits, and to retire before you are 67 then you take the risk and get bit, hit or shot. The rights and property of citizens are worth more than the hide of any cop. Don't like it, get a job doing something productive.
ReplyDeleteThere are very few good cops, 99% are dirty or cover for those who are.
Being a cop is hard. It's harder when you're stupid. Giving conflicting orders to control your dog and keep your hands up is really stupid. I say that as a citizen who is generally supportive of law enforcement, but as one who remembers when "serve and protect" used to mean something, and cops wore white hats, and didn't go around dressed as Darth Vader. Oh, and some close family members and friends are cops, so I do too know what the job entails.
ReplyDeleteAs far as blue heelers, I have never known one that was vicious, and I've been around quite a few of them.
H
Conditions for "meeting" with "Officer" trigger-happy swelled-head super-kop: My house, alone, no badge, no gun, no cameras.
ReplyDeleteCome on in, asshole...let's "talk."
Brian,
ReplyDelete"Unleashed dog" Brian?
Uh-uh - he was in his OWN YARD, and the cop had the WRONG ADDRESS, which seems to be a continuing problem with law enforcement.
Lucky it wasn' my house and my dog, that cop was an uninvited visitor from word go; there very well may have been a bullet-riddled cop on the scene as well; me and a lot of other people are sick of this crap.
We don't know what type of call it was or what information was delivered by dispatch. Normally you do not exit cars with guns drawn. They may have had shots fired or stated the guy was armed and fleeing.
ReplyDeleteThere just ain't enough facts here to draw a conclusion. That's what I'm saying.
Give the fucker a break until the facts are in. Geezus, everyone is entitled to a little due process.
Fuck Obama.
Brian
Another cop that TEXAS FRED would be proud of... M.M. Ressman
ReplyDeleteI am in a business where I have to deal with cop`s a lot.And no doubt about it,some of these guy`s just WANT! to kill somebody or something.I don`t know how the hell some of them I`ve met passed the psyhc. exam.
ReplyDeleteBrian, Kenny is evidently feeling kind so soon after his latest marriage and didn't say it so I will - you couldn't be more full of shit if you were a Christmas goose. Read my first comment and make an effort to understand it this time, that is if you read it or anything the others had to say before you posted your self-serving tripe. While you're at it go back and read the article again and you'll find that we in fact *do* know what kind of call it was, a domestic disturbance. Just because a cop has a sidearm doesn't mean he's justified in using it whenever he wants to. Betcher ass if *I* wandered up in someone's yard and shot his dog my ass would be up on a charge. Shithead the trigger-happy asshole should be, too.
ReplyDeleteThing that cops don't seem to get: You just walked onto the dog's property. THE DOG IS GOING TO RUN TOWARDS YOU. It doesn't mean the dog is aggressive, it doesn't mean he's going to bite you. It means that you just walked onto the dog's property and the dog wants to get a better look at you, which for dogs often means smell.
ReplyDeleteAdd in that many family dogs are used to being greeted happily by people who just entered the property. Therefor the "run towards the new guy" instinct is just that much stronger. If you're so scared of dogs that you're going to shoot one for approaching you then you need to give up your badge.
Add in that every single account of the incident that I've read states that not only did the cop has his gun drawn long before he saw a person, but that he greeted the home-owner with the conflicting instructions to "put up your hands" AND "get your dog"....what was the guy supposed to do? I'll admit I've have gotten my dog, but considering my dog, well, he'd have probly already been shot.
I was a peace officer when I worked patrol for the San Diego PD, over thirty years ago. I rescued two dogs, and I never shot a single one. These bastards are just badge-heavy SOBs who want to be able to shoot something. A dog will do, but a person like Jose Guerera is even better.
ReplyDeleteI knew cops at San Diego like that. We called them "Felony Cops", because they would only respond to calls where they might have a chance to use their firearm on someone. There weren't as many back then, but cops are so used to getting away with murder these days that it won't stop until people start returning the favor. It's high time.
Posted on the "Justice For Cisco" Facebook page:
ReplyDelete"Officer Griffin is such a loving dog owner, that when I went to pick up my dead best friend out of my driveway he asked me what I was doing. He then said Animal Control was coming to dispose of my dog. Is that what he would do with his dog? Just give it to Animal Control to dispose of?
Interesting, because his supervisor Sgt Jacobson had already told him that Animal Control wasn't necessary after she talked with me. Guess he wasn't listening. He must have been too "distraught" over Cisco's death to listen to his supervisor."
So I guess Officer Shithead figured if he was going to be a dick he might as well go whole hog.