WARNING: GRAPHIC VIDEO AND STRONG LANGUAGE
A SWAT team from WI is under fire after shooting and killing a small dog that came out of a home where a man was barricading himself from police. The police were called by neighbors after the man’s dog went to the bathroom on their yard and he refused to pick it up. The neighbors said that the man was threatening violence, and a standoff ensued.
“When he finally decided to come out of the house he was irate upset and was telling the cops to get off his property that he was going to harm them, he was going to shoot at the cops,” said neighbor Kim Polk.
SWAT team members in full gear, armored vehicle and all, waited outside for hours and tried to get the owner to come out and talk to them. During the talks, the man threatened the officers with armor-piercing crossbow and also threatened to release his dog.
“After several hours of dialogue with crisis negotiators, the barricaded subject ultimately made good on his threat to introduce the dog into the active standoff,” said Racine Police Chief Art Howell.
The dog, named Angels, was a 3 year old Blue Heeler that weighed around 10 pounds, according to a Facebook page set up to seek justice for the dog.
Here is a video depicting a different view of the incident. You can clearly see the owner open the front door to let his dog out (all 10 pounds of her).
There is no doubt that the owner has some issues going on, and there is no doubt that the SWAT team was dealing with a man who was threatening them. However, for a group of grown men to shoot and kill a lap dog seems like a ridiculous escalation to the situation at hand.
What are your thoughts?
