Police officer shot dead after pointing stun gun at man's dogs as he attended domestic dispute

We had a situation last summer when the police where called for prowlers on our property. Our 6 mo collie approached the officer that came onto the property to discuss the details of the call with me and the officer started to draw his stun gun while simultaneously asking if the dog bites. I said no and he didnt fully draw his stun gun but I dont know if it was because of my answer and the dog's demeanor or that fact that I was holding a SPAS shotgun.

reply to post by Thestargateisreal


.002 amps at 19 pulses a second is far from being able to kill you...but it hurts because its at 50,000 volts. Your home has 110 volt outlets which are around 30amps with no breaks in current. Amps kill you and if tasers killed everyone they would not be used. Like I said...I've had mine for 3 years and never deployed a cartridge just displayed the beam.

If the dog is being used as an aggressive weapon then its not "lets leave and go eat at the coffee shack" its light this dog up and arrest this guy for his actions. This is "above the law" to you?

"Ok guys it got dangerous...lets go home."

Animal control has nothing to do with the immediacy of this situation. Animal control is not going to go in there with a dangerous man who just committed a disturbance.

No warrant = no business on my property. Point guns at my dogs, expect one pointed right back.

Was he right to kill a police officer? Probably not. Whether it be legally or morally.
Was the police officer wrong to threaten the man, call for back up, then attempt to shoot the man's dogs. And let's get it clear, he was going to shoot the dogs, he wasn't just pointing the stun gun at them. If you're a cop and your chief tells you to do something, you are going to do it.

The suspect knew this, got scared, and reacted in the only way a pot-growing, "redneck" prone to disturbance calls knows how. He blasted him in the face with 00 buck shot.

There is a correct way to talk down a man with a shotgun and conduct an investigation.
*hint: it's not to shoot/stun his dogs

reply to post by Reconer


There was no proof that he was dangerous. Please refrain from name calling, officer.

reply to post by Lemon.Fresh


Like I told you...your clearly not a real police beat officer...small town or big or you completely forgot your training despite how your twisted department operated.

I explained to you what warrants are and how they are used and how it applied to this case.

NOW...that said...if this guy never answered the door...might have been a different story can caused a few different issues mainly forcing the officer to leave or just knock on the door for a while trying to talk him outside. Otherwise depending on this disturbance which the people who called in state "the officer saved our lives" must have been pretty serious.

I guess in your department you used warrants in the wrong manner as your using it in the wrong context on here...and did alot more things A@@ backwards so no wonder you quit. Use another excuse...my guess is you are a jailer who thinks he knows whats up when you really dont.

reply to post by Reconer


It's clear to me that the more you say, from the perspective of a police officer, the more you're feeding into the opinion that some of you lack training and life experience for your job.

reply to post by Thestargateisreal


How can the person who called it in publicly state that the Officer "saved my life" if this dude wasnt dangerous? Lets see...heres a fact...the guy blew a cops head off...dangerous enough attitude and mindset for you. NO NO NO but he was just some random dude getting picked on by some small town officer infringing on his rights to sick dogs on him and barricade himself inside behind them...oh and his right to commit murder.

reply to post by Raist


Man you should have seen the other one the mods closed, pretty much 9 pages of how the shooter was right in killing the man. Regardless of him being a cop, he was still a human being.

I have a #zu. If a police officer pulled up in my driveway, I would walk out to meet him and my #zu has been known to follow me outside. The first thing he would do would be to run up to the officer to sniff or jump on them but, in a friendly way. He would jump in the car, any car if you left the door open. He is a friendly dog, not an aggressive dog. He has been with us for 11 years and yes, he is my kid and I would go crazy if I seen him get shot. I would even go so far as to step in front of him to protect him and that is instinct. That is the kind of love that people have for their pets.

So, yes, I can see why this guy pulled a gun to protect his loved one, he probably did it out of instinct.

But, on the other hand, if it was to come between a human and my dog, then the human would be protected before I would protect my dog. Even though I love my dog, my morals tell me that a human life is far better than an animals.

reply to post by Reconer


How can you say that if left alone the man would've been a problem. He let his dogs out because he didn't want to hurt someone. If he truly wanted to, he would've got his shotgun and shot the officer before the dogs or the chief got involved.

Originally posted by Thestargateisreal
reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul

 

A stun gun isn't designed for a 50 lb dog. He also was also breaking the law by using it. Animal control is for handling animals. They acted illegally by not calling them. They were on the man's property after being asked to leave. They were in the wrong clearly.

If you bother to read what happened the dogs had already been "set upon him" before he called for backup. The Chief arrived shortly and told him to "shoot" dogs that were already all over him - they weren't jsut sitting there wagging their tails! All he had out was his taser, and he couldn't reach his handgun.

the murderer wasn't even in the picture at that point - he only then came out and shot the officer that he had set the dogs onto.

There was no "request" to get off the property - that was a statement by the murderer after the killing.

-whatshappening3121.wordpress.com...

There are animals here alright - and they are not the 2 dogs, nor the "pigs"!

reply to post by smokeythabear


That's exactly right. A human being that's expected to obey the law, and respect others. He lost control because he was poorly trained and not a capable police officer. So many real cops deal with this kind of thing everyday with no problems. He died because he was stupid.

reply to post by Thestargateisreal


No stupid or not, the officer died senselessly. This shouldn't have happened but I'm sure many of you think it should have so it's pointless arguing about it. I have a dog and a gun and I would not have shot an officer if they tased my dog, or even killed her. I would be undeniably upset, but I am not going to end another life over it, especially since they would try me for the death penalty also. My word vs. theirs, they win. Maybe getting a good lawyer to sue the # out of them would be a better option.

reply to post by smokeythabear


What I think should have happened is both of these police officers needed to find another line of work. Such a simple and common situation (I've seen the exact thing happen) but they let it get out of control. They shouldn't have been aloud to carry a badge if they can't control one hillbilly pothead and two dogs.

lol, talk about overkill

if had been me, the officer would still be alive, i would have cut off his hand though.

funny how the chief shows up and is okay with initiating violence, as long as some other shmuck carries it out.
i don't cotton to guns, they seem to produce a shoot 1st ask questions later attitude, that can only be replied to with a further escalation of violence.

as has been pointed out this could have been seen coming along time ago,
people are getting fed up with these arrogant attitudes by the enforcer class. and we will be seeing more of this in the future.

note the fear this has provoked in the local authorities, and the their typical solution:
kill the offender, so that others will hear, and KNOW FEAR.



edit to add:

'He tried to kill my dogs and pointed a gun in my face,' Hitcho said, according to the documents. 'I do not care if you a cop or not ...Unbelievable.'

The officer had been responding to a report of a disturbance and ended up at the back of Hitcho's house, authorities said.


Police Chief George Bruneio, who arrived after Mr Lasso requested assistance, instructed him to 'shoot the dogs' and that's when the homeowner pulled out a shotgun and fired, authorities said.

looks like Hitcho had reason to believe his dogs were going to be shot.

Originally posted by Thestargateisreal
reply to post by smokeythabear

 

That's exactly right. A human being that's expected to obey the law, and respect others. He lost control because he was poorly trained and not a capable police officer. So many real cops deal with this kind of thing everyday with no problems. He died because he was stupid.

No - he died because he encountered a murderer who was a complete bastard - setting his 2 dogs on a police officer going about his lawful business making enquiries, and then shooting him, without provocation, while he was distracted.

IE he was ambushed and gunned down in cold blood. All the drivel about threatening dogs is a post hoc smokescreen to garner sympathy from other cold blooded low life.

People making brainless posts such as the one I quoted are the stupid ones.

Update on the story:

It was a neighbor that called originally:

The man is a neighbor of George Hitcho Jr., the suspect now charged with killing Lasso. The man, who didn't want his name published, said he had a confrontation with Hitcho before Lasso arrived.
"He saved our lives," he said Friday, referring to Lasso. "All I can say is the officer saved our lives."
He would not comment further on the disturbance between him and Hitcho, other than to say an unarmed Hitcho threatened him before Lasso responded.

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reply to post by Aloysius the Gaul


He knew the man! He arrested and convicted him previously. If you have previously arrested someone and you know what type of person they are, why would you approach him so haphazardly?

My guess is that the officer knew he wasn't a real threat. He probably also knew that shooting the man's dogs would lead to bad things, which is why it was made as an order and not an option by his captain.