In Fort Worth, TX, two dogs went for a romp around the neighborhood after a gate in their yard was accidentally left unlatched on September 29. Bentley, a 2 year old German shepherd and BB, a 9 year old pitbull, were spotted by a Good Samaritan who stopped her car to see if she could coax the dogs to her. Just then, some nutter pulls up in his SUV, gets out and starts waving a gun around, telling the woman he’s going to shoot the shepherd for killing his cat.
The frightened woman tried to talk the guy down, sympathizing with him for his loss while explaining that the dogs aren’t attacking anyone now, that they are trying to get away, to go home. The man called her a stupid bitch at which point she turned back toward the pitbull, whom she was able to get into her car. She heard 4 or 5 gunshots and saw the SUV speed away. She called 911, gave a description of the man with the gun and the SUV, then talked with a local resident who had witnessed the shooting. The witness said she heard the shepherd cry out after the shots and then saw him run away.
Three Ft Worth officers and a Tarrant County sheriff’s deputy responded to the 911 call and interviewed both women.
The deputy returned a few minutes later to tell the women that Fort Worth police would be handling the case because they had jurisdiction, she said.
“He said the officers has made contact with the man. He works for Fort Worth PD … He said the dog killed his cat and he did nothing wrong,” the woman said. “I said, ‘He fired shots, sir. This is the city limits. He was not on his property.’ ”
The Good Sam waited until 9pm to hear from the Ft Worth police department but they never called. So she called 911 again to follow up and was told the officers had never filed a report.
“I said, ‘Sir, shots were fired by this man,’ ” the woman said.
She spoke with a supervisor. A few hours later someone from the Ft Worth PD finally called her regarding the shooting. Investigators came to her house the next morning and had her pick the shooter out of a photo line-up.
The Good Sam learned that Bentley had been found dead and that AC had picked up his remains. She kept BB at her home and put up flyers in the neighborhood, advertising him as found. His owner, who had already been to six pounds looking for his lost pets, saw the flyer and called the woman. She was happy to reunite BB with his owner but also had to tell the man that Bentley had been killed.
The shooter, deputy chief Kenneth Flynn, has been charged with animal cruelty and placed on desk duty while the police department investigates itself. Police officials refused to say whether the three responding officers are being investigated for their failure to file a report nor would they identify any of them. But they’re prolly doing the right thing – they’re the police!
The Good Sam, who had the guts to round up a strange pitbull on the street and get him into her car while a freak with a gun was cussing her out, is too afraid of police retaliation to give her name to the local paper. Without her perseverance, this crime obviously would have been covered up by dirty cops. Thank you, Good Sam. I love that irresponsible public.
(Thanks Clarice for the link.)
ARE YOU KIDDING ME! First of all, what about the good Sam who was in firing distance of these bullets! He should be fired and jailed. Period, end of story. And then sued for killing this dog. When it comes to law enforcement where animals are concerned it seems to be back to the wild west and there is no due process. In fact I hope the good sam sues him! So sick of this.
That woman was courageous. The deputy police chief needs to be fired.
How does an officer discharge a weapon and NOT make a report? Clearly something is very, very wrong here.
That woman is very brave and I admire her tenacity and courage. I hope that something comes of this because a man who is supposed to be trained to behave professionally waving a gun around and shooting at people’s pets is NOT a professional.
“His actions against a dangerous dog that had just mauled his pet cat were completely legal in Texas.” This is an out and out lie. It would’ve been legal if he had shot the dog *while* it was mauling his cat, in an attempt to protect the cat, but shooting it afterwards as revenge is not legal by any stretch of the imagination. And under Texas law, “dangerous dog” has a very specific meaning (of which I’m sure this attorney is aware), one that does not apply here because no person was attacked. There’s a separate section that applies to dogs that attack other animals, and at most the owner should’ve been cited for the dog being at large.
http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/HS/htm/HS.822.htm#822.041
A lot of police departments seem to have lost their way. They think they are The Law rather than people we hire to enforce the law. There is a big difference and we are seeing it play out in dead family pets, dead children and the killers walking away with no consequences.
There has to be oversight and accountability.