Officer Down

Sultan, a beautiful 2 years German Shepherd, trained for the Riverside County Canine unit was shot and killed Wednesday, January 21, 2015, in Riverside County, California, by a wanted felon.



Officer Down Memorial Page
NEWS SOURCE

The quick and easy, down and dirty, nitty gritty of the situation is this: A felon, accused of multiple weapon violations and robberies failed to appear in court and was sited in a rural neighborhood in the burbs of Riverside County. Police responded, seeking to arrest the individual when he hid in the crawl space under a private residence. Police considered him "Armed and Dangerous".

The neighborhood was evacuated and SWAT was called. After some time and lots of cajoling, the individual remained holed up and someone made the decision to send Sultan in to "get" the perp. Sultan return bleeding from the neck. The initial reports were that he was stabbed, but soon reports emerged that he had been shot. He died at the vet from his injuries later that afternoon. After 9 hours, police threw some flash grenades/tear gas canisters under the house and the individual came out, armed, we're told, and police shot him around 16 times, (guessing from sounds the video of the shooting)

As sad as the loss of life, of the perp and of Officer Sultan, there is something that is nagging at me, and just doesn't smell right.

Does anyone else think that the police threw Sultan under the bus? Did Sultan have a bullet proof vest on? I mean, what was Sultan expected to do? Handcuff the perp and read him his rights? Nope. Sultan was there to attack, and eat the face off the guy hiding in the crawl space under the house. I can't imagine any way for that guy to have gotten out of there with a dog gnawing on him, other than fighting back and attacking the dog in self defense.

Am I wrong?

Police don't have a very good reputation for their sensitivity of dogs, generally. While searching ATS to see if this had been posted already, I came upon this thread.

This One Police Department Shot 92 Dogs in Three Years.

Now, in all fairness, some Police Departments are introducing special canine training classes to address sensitivity issues when dealing with family pets. Officers are being offered incentives for participation, so that's good move in the right direction.



RIP SULTAN

a reply to: windword

Nice catch man you deserve a star and flag no doubt. Damn i think your perspective is spot on. We have a mental sickness infecting our police departments in this country and better get a handle on it stat.

The dog was sent into a trap. The dog must've had sensitive information of his unit and was planning to talk to the feds so they sent the dog into a trap. The cops knew the dog was not gonna survive it. In a few days PETA & F.B.I. are gonna take over this case.

Ps he got the nickname "Sultan" back in his days of working undercover in Saudi Arabia

Oh! This breaks my heart! What did they expect him to do? If they considered the perp armed and dangerous, what is a dog supposed to do? It's pretty infuriating!

RIP Sultan, you beautiful, brave boy!

Ya why not do the tear gas and flash bang route be for sending the pup in?
Cause you're right, unless they planned on having the dog drag him out it wasn't gonna do much but get the dog hurt.

He signed his death certificate to by hurting that dog, no way he wasn't gonna come out with enough lead in him to write a paper.

I know that area very well too, worked out there plenty of times, one of the few places I was never bothered by the cops.
I worked as a door to door salesmen for 2 years during senior year and about a year after, people always called the cops on us

As much as I agree with your assessment the thing that makes go hmmm...is how he decided to come out after flash bangs and teargas only to be shot as soon as he came out 16 times. How on earth is a guy in a crawlspace who has just been flashbanged and teargassed gonna warrant 16 shots and not a set of cuffs and a trial. I guess there was probably no footage or they lost it or whatever but I just don't see many ways a SWAT team couldn't apprehend a man crawling on his belly snotting, choking, and tearing up everywhere. The only way I can picture this being necessary is if he came out weapon first...like that was the first thing SWAT sees is a knife or gun. However lets be honest...those cops and SWAT guys were probably angry the dog was harmed and executed the man.

ETA: Reminds me of how they used the dog on that homeless guy in NM to justify killing him...Judge, Jury, and Executioner...

a reply to: RickyD

They didn't want to, a fellow cop just got attacked, what do you think is gonna happen.
And I'm sure they are covered by the book too

a reply to: windword

I think your observation is on target that the K-9 "officer's" life is worth less than the human LEO. There is some logic behind that. The K-9 is an automaton that only follows orders and can't possibly follow the law enforcement oath. Not capable of making life and death decisions.

It needs to be pointed out here and now that although the K-9 is essentially treated as a fighting robot, it's life and it's rights are still superior to yours as a citizen.

LEO's will readily demonstrate they value the dog more than the citizen. They'll command the dog to attack and if the citizen does anything in the way of self defense, they are at risk of summary execution.

It kind of puts the citizen at the bottom of the totem pole doesn't it?

a reply to: Sremmos80

Please point me to where in US law it give authority for a cop to sentence a person to death unless faced with a real threat. I used to work under houses installing cable and satellite for TV. I can tell you first hand most crawlspaces are pretty tight and access is even smaller usually. How could they not stand on either side and go knees down as soon as his neck and hands were out. Like I said only if he came out weapon first...

a reply to: Sremmos80

Ahhhh...I found the source within the source...which details that the criminal came out with a handgun in hand...yea he got what he was gonna get. Although he probably wanted to die considering the fact he came out armed...I mean everyone knows that's a death sentence.

I did find something kind of funny relating to the OP's take. There is this quote in the article that contradicts the actions taken considering how the dog was sent first and not after the nonlethal and no risk to any lives method is tried...

"There is a very close bond between K-9 and the deputy he's assigned to," Sgt. Mike Manning told The Riverside Press-Enterprise. "It's more than property or a tool. It's a heartfelt bond between the dog and the handler."

Sure seemed like a tool there...

Cops aren't the people.....They are separated from us by their owners and given the power of life or death......
They have their own twisted logic and the weapons to see that it is adhered to.....
Whats the difference between the Bike gangs and the cops?
Legal licence to kill without consequences....

a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

I think your observation is on target that the K-9 "officer's" life is worth less than the human LEO. There is some logic behind that. The K-9 is an automaton that only follows orders and can't possibly follow the law enforcement oath. Not capable of making life and death decisions.

So theres no difference between them and the dogs? Maybe thats why they put their value ahead of the value of citizens.

a reply to: stirling

No in this case the man came out in a manner consistent with the use of lethal force. Had I been there and no cop was there and the man I knew to be dangerous and had already presented the will to do harm came out holding a gun I would have said stop once if there was even time if he didn't I would stop him. I jumped the gun and didn't see the link to the source that the OPs source was reporting from.

"Our SWAT personnel were at the scene and they made several attempts to get him out with tear gas,"Martinez said, but those attempts were unsuccessful. "At one point, the suspect came out armed with a handgun, and a deputy-involved shooting occurred."

Original Source

It's about time the Police trained Apes(and i dont mean the Human apes they currently employ) to arrest criminals or just rip some faces off until the real police appear on the scene.

I vote for face ripping chimps. hell, you can dress them up in shorts & Tshirts, Dungarees and Doc Martins.... Awesome!!

Just for reference here, the Riverside PD paid $30,000 in a law suit after they shot a homeowner's dog in 2012. They said, at the time, that the officer - who was setting up a perimeter for a raid on a position to houses away - was 'charged' by the dog. The family adamantly claimed the dog was shot through the gate when he barked (as he was simply protecting his family's property).

I'm not taking sides, just adding for perspective.

However, I don't believe the PD posted on a memorial website for that family's pet.

Finally a LEO I can support.

R.I.P.

a reply to: windword

and if the dog would have gotten loose and traveled across the border into mexico then he would have been eaten.

a reply to: RickyD

I totally agree with you, but police dogs are seen as sworn officers, if you attack an officer it has been shown time and time again they can shoot you no problem.

I bet my big toe that regardless of how he came out, all they have to say is after seeing what he did to the dog they were in fear he would do the same to them.

a reply to: windword

They were 9 hours to late throwing flash grenades/tear gas canisters under the house IMO.

Likely both would still be alive.

RIP SULTAN.

a reply to: windword

If a human cop isn't willing to man up and follow an armed felon into a crawlspace, I don't think they should shove an innocent dog in there into harms way either. Of course he's going to get shot. Poor dog. He should be on a couch somewhere getting pet instead of being used as a disposable weapon of the police.