“Justice For Cisco – Dog Wrongly Killed By Austin Cop” Written by Clint Lenard of Galoor.com

I came accross Clint Lenard’s articles during a heated discussion online about a recent incident where police shot and killed a dog in Arlington TX. I am very familiar with Cisco’s story but had no idea that there have been SO many cases of police using deadly force unnecessarily against family pets. Please read and reflect — is this right? Something needs to happen…SOON. You can find more of Clint’s articles at: http://www.galoor.com/authors/clint-lenard

Sweet Cisco who was shot by police and died in his owner’s arms

 

I’m an avid Dog lover, as well as the “owner” of several dogs who are pretty spoiled. I couldn’t imagine anything ever happening to them, although I’m very fearful of situations involving stupid people. In fact, just a week ago I had to call Cops on a guy who was looking into my neighbor’s window. I told the dispatcher the address of the neighbor and I even spoke with a cop who was on his way (he had called me asking if the guy was still there). So when my dogs started barking as if someone was in my front yard, I got a little worried.

I tried to push my youngest dog back so that I could go see if that was the cops showing up at my door, which is when my dog, Penny, decided to run out front. No big deal, she’s the sweetest dog in the world and loves everybody. But when I saw cops, she did too. She was caught off guard and was barking at them while backing up. But I noticed that one cop started reaching for his gun! I started yelling at this cop and explained that 1) he was at the wrong house and 2) my dog was startled, but she was not going to harm them. In fact, as I mentioned, she was backing up while barking and started running back to my side.

This is the problem with a few cops these days. They shoot first and ask questions when it comes to your pets. There’s even Facebook pages dedicated to this, such as Mr. Policeman, don’t shoot my dog (WARNING: you’ll be disgusted after reading about how many dogs are killed by cops for no reason). It’s very disturbing to see how many Cops are getting away with killing people’s pets and then seeing so many people trying to justify their actions.

For instance, how about the cop who took his dog to a dog park, on a leash (stupidity at it’s finest!) and decided to kill a dog who was trying to play? This guy, like all cops, was not charged with any crime. How in the world does this guy walk away without even a slap on the wrist? Disgusting.

These incidents are getting out of control and it appears that many cops really do join just to shoot a gun for the sake of shooting a gun and playing god. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some great cops in every city. I’m guessing most cops would never do such a thing, but there’s still too many people losing their beloved pets because some moron just wants to kill something. These are the people who should not be allowed to carry a gun.

Now let’s discuss Cisco, the dog recently killed by Austin, Texas Police Officer, Thomas Griffin. Cisco is the dog you see in the image above. Aggressive looking, right? Yeah, most Blue Heeler’s are real mean… no, but seriously, Blue Heeler’s are intelligent dogs and probably aren’t the most affectionate dogs by nature, but they’re not aggressive. Cisco was no different. A barking dog does not mean the dog is aggressive. All dogs are going to bark and all barking dogs are simply trying to communicate.

Cisco was gunned down by Officer Thomas Griffin because Officer Griffin showed up at the wrong address, and clearly surprised both Cisco and his owner, Michael Paxton. These are Michael Paxton’s own words, taken directly from Cisco’s Facebook page:

APD officer drew his gun on me in my driveway when I came from my backyard to get something from my truck yesterday. He was responding to a domestic violence call and came to my address by mistake.

While I was at gunpoint my dog came from my backyard barking at the officer. I yelled for the officer to not shoot my dog, that he will not bite, but the officer immediately shot and killed my dog right in front of me.

I was unable to stop or restrain Cisco because I was being held at gunpoint.

Please like Cisco’s page so that I can spread the word about this senseless tragedy and hopefully find justice for Cisco.

So, as you can see, this cop was holding the wrong man at gun point and then killed his dog because he wouldn’t allow him to restrain his dog. Another cop who took matters into his own hands, without actually thinking it through first. We need this to stop. These types of cops are dangerous to society, and Thomas Griffin should be punished for his misdeeds. Austin Police Department needs to step up and show support for the community they’re supposed to be protecting, by doing more than “saying sorry.” They need to make it clear that these incidents will not be tolerated and this cop needs to be punished.

If you would like to support this cause, please sign the petition here:

Justice For Cisco Petition

Also, check out the Justice For Cisco Facebook page here:

Justice For Cisco Facebook page

Again, this is not a shot at Cops in general. I have a lot of respect for Police Officers who actually protect and serve. They should be treated with respect. In fact, they should be respected just like our Soldiers who serve in the Military. Police Officers have difficult jobs, but these types of incidents should be treated seriously and these officers should not be given a slap on the wrist, or less.

Read more: http://www.galoor.com/crime/59-justice-for-cisco-dog-wrongly-killed-by-austin-cop#ixzz1yH7x3TCt