Oregon Deputies Shoot Family's Miniature Pony, Leave Body in Neighbor's Yard and Lie

The following quote is but the first lie they tried to pull. Read full article for more.

It took one Oregon family awhile to discover what happened to their missing minature pony, named Gir. Gir was an American Miniature horse aged 30 and, aside from some arthritis, was in excellent shape but wouldn't have gotten too far if he escaped. They were forced to do their own detective work on February 18th when Gir wasn't in his stall even though the owner locked it and double-checked it.

And he didn't get too far at all. However, the Fitzgerald family was left to frantically search for him. When they started knocking on neighbors' doors, they discovered with horror Gir's dead body laying in the neighbor's yard.

Again, the family was left to seek answers. The neighbor said she had called the Sheriff's department and they came out and simply put the animal down.

However, the tale the department eventually weaves is worse than the original complete lack of response...

Gir was found with two bullet holes through the cheek area of the head and a pool of blood behind the head where it lay. The Sheriff's department claim - the family had to call them - was that the pony had gotten hit on the road and had its two back legs broken. But an autopsy completely dissolves that claim. The veterinarian confirms there was absolutely nothing wrong with him.

www.activistpost.com...

a reply to: 727Sky
If this is true.
Those bastards took the easy route.
They were to lazy to find out the owner (I think the neighbors would have known!!)
They just killed the horse, left it there and went away.
"What do you have for lunch today, Jonny"

And why did the neighbor call the police in the first run? They are to blame too for leaving every little thing to the cops, even if it would have taken two or three calls to get that horse of their land. But to them it may have been an intruder.
How twisted are those people??

Wow.. pathetic cops. Here is another article that mentions the town. Molalla, Oregon. It's where I was raised, and currently don't live too far from. Surprised it happened there to be honest. Not a town you'd expect it from. It's not a very big place, though it's grown since I lived there.

When are you people going to stop expecting these thugs in uniform to act any different? They have the power, along with a gun and badge, that says they can do whatever the f**k they want and get away with it. They murder pets because they are too lazy and scared of their own shadows to figure out most of them pose no threat and find some excuse to use them for target practice. But let someone harm a police dog and they scream it's the same as harming one of them. No, it's not. The dog is better.
There Are No Good Cops.

originally posted by: verschickter
a reply to: 727Sky

And why did the neighbor call the police in the first run?

Because we are taught that any little annoyance is not ours to deal with or we will be sued if something goes wrong.

If true, this is nothing other than animal cruelty, target practice and blood lust.

Somehow I believe the people.

Peace

a reply to: 727Sky

"But we don't have all the facts, all you cop haters are jumping to conclusions"



Even the most militant police apologists won't be able to spin this one.

a reply to: 727Sky

I am saddened but better informed for this Thread, Sky. F&S.
There's a childhood dog in this fight. Please bear with me.

A miniature horse.. loose in a reasonably sparsely populated
area: and maybe grazing on the neighbor's lawn. on/ This is definitely
an exotic and dangerous beast that had to be dealt with quickly
and decisively.

I submit the officer(s) should have used a larger and more powerful
calibers to assure the suppression of the threat: like a 20mm Anzio
at center of mass to slow it down a little... and then a pizza pie full
of 3" magnum deer slugs from the trusty Mossberg at the soft tissues.
Potentially-- a couple of mere .40's point blank to blow most of his face
away might have just angered him if he was of a feisty disposition.
I believe a composite fusillade would have been the best. /obvious sarc off.

Methinks Barney and Goober ramped off their meds too quickly. Christ.

My Uncle Bill raised Shetlands in a now built-up industrial park when
it was still a 40-acre veggie farm. There were a lot of medium and
large sized animals in that township. They were all family friends, loved
and treated almost like the children.

Halfway through reading this OP; for some strange and unexplained
reason my upper denture split again. It's made of acrylic resin and
doesn't really conform to my gumline anymore-- because once or twice
a week I read OPs like this and possibly experience an uncommon
reflex action of biting down hard enough to sever a spinal column,
vertebrae and all.

I might deduce if I was the analytical type-- it was also from a
subliminal and yet uncontrolled primal rage. So glad that's suppressed.
Sole cause could have been the well-soaked raisin bran with a misaligned
piece of dried fruit causing a flexing moment.. but I'm just an old
engineer and quite deranged; none the less I care about this.
Nah, it's all the damned raisin's fault.

This OP and those like it are the reason I was spared from cancer for a
little while longer-- to watch the planet I am still trapped on descend the
rest of the way into Hell. Thank you all for this time. I must deserve it
from some previous existence as a tank commander squishing orphanages...

originally posted by: WakeUpBeer
Wow.. pathetic cops. Here is another article that mentions the town. Molalla, Oregon. It's where I was raised, and currently don't live too far from. Surprised it happened there to be honest. Not a town you'd expect it from. It's not a very big place, though it's grown since I lived there.

And there is the biggest problem. Even the "Not a town you'd expect it from" is no longer immune to the plague of trigger happy buffoons with badges.

a reply to: 727Sky

I wonder if these individuals were depraved criminals before they joined the forces or if it was on the job training?

When are the citizens going to put a stop to this? Defund departments before it's too late.

originally posted by: DAVID64
When are you people going to stop expecting these thugs in uniform to act any different? They have the power, along with a gun and badge, that says they can do whatever the f**k they want and get away with it. They murder pets because they are too lazy and scared of their own shadows to figure out most of them pose no threat and find some excuse to use them for target practice. But let someone harm a police dog and they scream it's the same as harming one of them. No, it's not. The dog is better.
There Are No Good Cops.

If you spend your days just reading every negative story your going to find you're only going to brainwash yourself into thinking that. Do you just enjoy being enraged so much you do everything you can to get your daily fill?

Anyway... Obviously not excusing their actions and nor does this article, but a more balanced and informative writeup that doesn't seek to sensationalise and has more facts can be found here:

www.oregonlive.com...

Those of you that just want to feel angry all of the time until something pops in your chest, just keep reading your rage blog.

a reply to: AgentSmith

I don't spend my days looking for things to be angry about, but it's hard to ignore when these thugs in uniform are doing things like this on an almost daily basis.
Brainwashed? If a civilian were to do half the things they get away with, we'd have been in prison long ago. It's long past time to get angry about this type of crap. He shot the horse in the neck with a shotgun. What idiot tries to euthanize an animal like that? And if he didn't know any better, why did he even try to begin with?

www.oregonlive.com...

The horse was shot in the neck, and the trajectory of the bullets was "not aligned with the commonly accepted path as described by the (American Veterinary Medical Association) for humane euthanasia by firearm," the lab report said.

I also doubt that any Humane Society would have told him to shoot it and I would also bet that no Vet would advise it without seeing the animal first hand.

The Oregon Humane Society did not receive a call from Deputy Helmer regarding Gir, but Baugnon said the deputy could have called another humane society for advice.

"But if he called us, we wouldn't have had any authority to advise him to do anything in that scenario, especially without seeing the horse in person," Baugnon said. "We would have advised him to call a vet."

Yeah, I'm just looking for my daily rage fix.

originally posted by: real_one
a reply to: 727Sky

"But we don't have all the facts, all you cop haters are jumping to conclusions"

Even the most militant police apologists won't be able to spin this one.

I'll have you know that horse ATTACKED the hero. He arrived on scene, and the thing had big, glowing eyes and pointy fangy teeth. It LEAPED through the air at him, gnashing its sharp pointy fangs and kicking at him with razor hooves.

So of course, he had to Go Home At The End Of His Shift®, so he took the only way out left to him by the horse, which was probably on crack and heroin. After the totally valid mercy shooting, dozens of heroin bags and a firearm were found under the criminal animal.

I'm shaking my head over this one. I live in cattle country. It's open range we see critters more than people.

If livestock gets trapped on our land we spread the word, either they find their way out or the owner shows up. It's the rule of open range. The owner of the animal compensates for food/water/damages but landowners can't willy-nilly shoot/slaughter livestock, we'd be sued.

Our sheriffs are good people. One morning at 2 am cop lights lit up our front windows. The cop spotted a Shetland pony on the road and was afraid coyotes/mountain lions would get him. I didn't know who owned it but the cop was worried. I told him the pony would be safe with the cattle herd until the owner was found. Sure enough the pony stayed with the herd, went home the next day.

We've seen lots of runaway livestock. Lone horses frequently jump their pens to roam with cattle. Happens all the time, they're herd animals.

A really big escapee billy goat scared me to death when he crept up behind me. We've all had run ins with livestock and typically we laugh about it. Livestock finds a way if determined and sometimes they're just habitual Houdinis. We're used to it, we watch over livestock like children.

What a bunch of clueless morons. I wonder if this isn't a case of scared city people/cops relocating to the country because I've never heard of such stupidity in my neck of the woods.

originally posted by: AgentSmith

originally posted by: DAVID64
When are you people going to stop expecting these thugs in uniform to act any different? They have the power, along with a gun and badge, that says they can do whatever the f**k they want and get away with it. They murder pets because they are too lazy and scared of their own shadows to figure out most of them pose no threat and find some excuse to use them for target practice. But let someone harm a police dog and they scream it's the same as harming one of them. No, it's not. The dog is better.
There Are No Good Cops.

If you spend your days just reading every negative story your going to find you're only going to brainwash yourself into thinking that. Do you just enjoy being enraged so much you do everything you can to get your daily fill?

Anyway... Obviously not excusing their actions and nor does this article, but a more balanced and informative writeup that doesn't seek to sensationalise and has more facts can be found here:

www.oregonlive.com...

Those of you that just want to feel angry all of the time until something pops in your chest, just keep reading your rage blog.

Quit trying to sugar coat this for what its not, and quit telling people what they think. If you want to keep your head in the sand like a friggin ostrich go right ahead, I'm not stopping you. The fact is this cop screwed up big time, and tried to lie to get out of it plain and simple! So its now the cops choice to euthanize? He's a trained veterinarian now as well? He's qualified to make these choices on the fly? And why are you condemning this as a rage blog? Your dang right we the people should be angry at this, aren't you angry with recent police action? If you're not, thats real sad. We all need to get angry at this and stand up to these thugs and do something about it. Let the people get angry at this until something in their chest pops, because maybe that pop in their chest will be the change we need.

Hey, I'd be happy if the guy got the Jerred Dooley treatment - you can quit and sign an agreement to never again seek a post in law enforcement, or you can face felony animal cruelty charges.

I'm not sticking up for them morons, I said it didn't excuse their actions. I was just pointing out there was a more detailed account that described the scene specifically, rather than start ranting and raving about anything and everything like you all seem to do best.
Think you're going to solve anything with your rage? Do you think you're going to get the good cops (of which there are more if you like it or not) on your side?
Do you think those cops who are new to the game and trying to decide if they should do the right thing or the wrong thing are going to lean towards your side when all they see are mouth breathing, mouth foaming rage filled f***ers calling for their deaths because they're 'all the same'? Or are they going to stick by their new, corrupt, 'brothers'?

You're little blog excludes as much as possible and deviates into ranting and raving ASAP on every single damn thing it writes about. It doesn't try to be objective and all it incites is rabid, anger fuelled behaviour.

When some newbie cop joins up and starts to question things, then his corrupt colleagues show him your rage filled hate that by default calls for his death, do you think he's going to be on 'his' side or yours?
You're creating your own problem, but you're too stupid and narrow-minded to see, it.

a reply to: AgentSmith

The horse was shot in the neck, and the trajectory of the bullets was "not aligned with the commonly accepted path as described by the (American Veterinary Medical Association) for humane euthanasia by firearm," the lab report said.

From your story. And what about the humane society saying they never received the call? And why not let the vet handle it instead of saying, no, we will?

So, the rage continues.

Found this bit in another article:

In his statement of apology, Roberts said, “We offer our sincere condolences to the Fitzgerald family. … “We have approached the family about exploring ways to make this as right as we can. And we are examining our own procedures when dealing with this sort of situation in the future.”

But Adam Fitzgerald, Crista’s husband, told KATU News Thursday afternoon that they haven’t heard from anyone at the sheriff’s office since Monday night, when an investigator came to their home to pick up the OSU report. He said the sheriff’s office has talked to them about making things right, but Adam Fitzgerald said he feels like it is an attempt to just silence them.

Fitzgerald said the family plans to sue the sheriff’s office, citing discrepancies in the police report.

KOMO News

It appears the department continues to lie! It's not enough one of their LEO's killed this family's beloved pet, but to CONTINUE to lie about it and their poor attempts at making things right? That is just disgusting.

The LEO who shot and killed this defenseless animal should be fired AND arrested/charged with animal cruelty and whatever other charges the DA can come up with. But, unfortunately, we ALL know that won't happen. He'll be given the requisite paid vactation time off pending an investigation then he'll be back at it, probably ready and willing to move on up the food chain and shoot a human next.

Sick.

originally posted by: AgentSmith
Think you're going to solve anything with your rage? Do you think you're going to get the good cops (of which there are more if you like it or not) on your side?

Given the whole "blue omerta" thing, I don't expect "good cops" to ever side against a fellow officer, in any case. This would, IMHO, make them all "bad" cops. Perhaps the ones that really wish they had the nads to not play along but do anyway are the "good" ones in your opinion. I see any cop that knows something is wrong and is quiet about it to be bad. So, no, I don't expect anything that I say to ever influence any LEO, given their insular clannish you-vs-us behavior.

The people I want to influence are their bosses. The politicos who are starting to become aware that they can't just take a bribe from the cop union and look the other way and still be re-elected. THAT'S why you're starting to see some of the cops face prosecution. Still only in cases where there's some hardy soul with a camera, and rarely to the degree that is actually warranted, but it's starting to change.

Case in point, if this guy stated on an official report that he contacted the humane society and didn't (should be easy enough to prove) then IMHO he has already filed a false report. I'd say that any further statement is sort of tainted - he lied already to save his ass why believe him at all - but cops never seem to face disciplinary action for that sort of thing. Although I would, if I had told a cop that.

Do you think those cops who are new to the game and trying to decide if they should do the right thing or the wrong thing are going to lean towards your side...

Nope. They're going to slowly go to the wrong side. Because that's the inherent nature of the job.

You're creating your own problem, but you're too stupid and narrow-minded to see, it.

The problem is caused by a body of people with authority and very little oversight or responsibility for their actions. If THAT were fixed, the problem would go away.