Dogs and veterans given equal treatment

While it certainly does not rank with the fatal SWAT Team shooting of a Marine veteran at home with his family, I recently learned about another fatal SWAT Team shooting — not of a human being but of a dog.

The video shows a Labrador retriever (named Sheba) doing nothing more than sitting peaceably on the porch of her house and then suddenly being shot to death by three SWAT officers. According to the news report, they had already arrested the suspects they were seeking (who btw have still not been charged). When the officers returned to make sure the house was “secure” (whatever than means), they saw the dog sitting on the porch and simply shot her to death. How that made the house more “secure” is beyond me. The dog’s owner (who was not arrested) had been made to lie on the floor inside, so apparently he couldn’t come to his dog’s aid. Probably lucky for him, for had he tried to defend his dog the heartless apparatchiks would probably have shot him too.

Here’s the video (and here’s the link if the embed code doesn’t work):

These situations are just so out of control. I have nothing to say that I haven’t said before other than I am sick of the constant stream of these awful stories of brutality in the police state we once called the land of the free and the home of the brave.

I thought I should write a post about this, not just because I am a dog lover, but because I thought there might be more outcry in certain circles over the death of a dog than the death of a Marine. (An irony touching upon a remarkable double standard I have noticed many times over the years….)

After all, the local Humane Society was shocked by the video and has expressed concern.

We showed the video to Kimberly Alboum, state director for the Humane Society.

“That’s devastating,” she said. “Wow, that’s absolutely devastating. That’s just shocking.”

Alboum said she sees in the video a SWAT team that needs to be trained in dealing with dogs.

“The way it appears on this footage, is that it was just a dog standing up watching them come up on the stairs,” she said.

Porter told ABC11 he’s sad, angry, and lonely without Sheba around.

Porter said he didn’t witness the shooting because he was among those in the house that night who were detained. He is not charged with any crime.

After the standoff, he said police did not apologize and took his dog’s body with them when they left the scene. He doesn’t know what was done with it.

Apologize? Police never apologize for shooting dogs or people unless and until they are ordered to do so. Besides, an apology would likely be seen as sign of weakness by the officers and an admission of guilt by the city legal staff. Only if the guy sued and won might an official apology be forthcoming. It is a serious mistake to expect government bureaucrats and their armed minions to behave like normal people. Their job is to rule over normal people.

ABC11 offered to show Durham police officials the video and to also ask if it was appropriate to discharge an automatic weapon so close to innocent civilians. They declined.

The Humane Society told us it plans to reach out to the department to offer free training on how to deal with pets in emergency situations.

Well, that’s fine, and I am all for better training. But how about some training on how to deal with combat veterans and other human beings and their families in these so-called “emergency situations”?

How about some training for that enormous cabal of rulers who have decided in their infinite wisdom to deploy military force for routine civilian law enforcement?

MORE:  In a video I think belongs here — “Peaceful Republic or Police State?” — Judge Napolitano discusses how “our freedoms have been systematically wiped out since the Constitution was signed.”