Three police officers have been receiving thousands of death threats after shooting a dog.
On Sunday, the officers appeared in a video in which one shoots and kills the dog as they arrested its owner in Hawthorne. The video went viral online, which led to the death threats the cops are being inundated with. For their own safety, the three were pulled from street duty on Wednesday.
The threats were delivered via phone, Facebook, and in emails. People around the country are disgusted that a police officer would shoot a dog during what seemed like a power trip.
During the taped incident took place at 137th Street and Jefferson Avenue. The Rottweiler of an arrested homeowner was somewhat aggressive towards one of the officers as he handcuffed its owner, Leon Rosby — in response, the officer shot and killed it. Rosby was being arrested for causing a disturbance during a two-hour police operation to arrest a robber holed up in a house.
As of Wednesday evening, the video had about 3 million views.
Hawthorne police Lt. Scott Swain said, “I understand that people have been affected by this video. Anyone would be. The police officers involved are affected by this incident and having to kill a dog. I don’t understand how it translates into an eye for an eye. ‘We are going to kill you and your family because of this incident.’ Like in my case. I wasn’t even working that night.”
Swain has been the target of some of the threats, simply for appearing in the news to talk about the incident. His phone has been ringing off the hook.
People are furious with the situation, and by the fact that the policeman who shot the canine has not been punished whatsoever.
Swain said, “There’s a lot of calls coming in where people are calling us names and dog killers. They are entitled to their opinions and to make comments like that, but where you cross the line is when you make the threat against the safety of police officers and police officers’ family members.”
Some of the threats are so bad that they have been deemed “valid” and are currently under investigation by law enforcement agencies.
Swain continued, “There’s been death threats. You’d like to believe that maybe some of the people are just venting, but then you’ve got to be realistic — there are crazy people out there.”
Although Swain refused to get specific, he said “the department has taken actions to make sure that the officers that are receiving the deaths threats are protected and are safe.”
Hawthorne Police Chief Robert Fager put out a statement saying, “I wish to reassure all that this matter is being addressed in the most appropriate manner demanded and afforded. I ask for all to look no farther than into our own community for the true reality of our partnerships and efforts that we apply daily in safeguarding our citizens. The Hawthorne Police Department will be accountable to its constituents and to our actions — please allow us to fulfill such. We truly sympathize with the feelings and impact suffered by all who have witnessed this incident.”
On the Hawthorne Police Department’s Facebook page, thousands of people have posted angry and threatening messages regarding the dog shooting. Such messages have even been posted on photos that show officers reading to children and talking to senior citizens. Before the dog incident, the Facebook page served primarily as a place for police to offer crime prevention tips.
On Facebook user, Matthew Metcalf, wrote, “I hope the officer is proud of himself. I hope he has crying children at home wondering why they have such an evil father. And I hope the rest of his family disowns him. He deserves no better than a life of shame, poverty and hatred from everyone. You have single handled disgusted the entire country!”
One old post on the page honored police Officer Andrew Garton ,who was killed two years ago in a motorcycle crash. The post became littered with nasty comments.
Another, Eric Beasley, wrote, “Better to have served honorable and died early, than to have been part of a department so full of greed and corruption. Enjoy your time in Heaven, Officer Garton.
Daniel Drobish wrote, “If your boys like playing with their guns so much, we should ship THEM over to Afghanistan. Then GOOD men and women won’t have to die!”
On an old post about the “Coffee with a Cop” program, Facebook user Keith McMahon wrote, “Throw the hot coffee in their faces!!!” He then posted a second comment that said, “I’ll have coffee with ya! I’ll poison you so you die a slow painful death … !”
Debra Smith wrote, “I will have coffee with these cops, if the coffee is heated to boiling and I can pour it on their trigger fingers.”
It’s easy to understand why people are so upset about this. It was not necessary for the cop to have killed that dog — this is just another incident of an out-of-control police power grab. That’s my take on it, anyways. Let us know your stance on the issue below.
Source: mrconservative
You can blame obama for this . He sent out a message to all PO. If anyone gave them anytrouble ar all they have his permission to deal with it anyway they want to. These men won’t be punished for killing that dog. I wonder what will happen to those officers when allof this stuff obama is doing comes to a head. When the States own military guards buck up to them. I hope they don’t let that lousey president turn them into people like him. They need to stop this evil stuff and protect all citizens like they are suppose to. The time is coming for them to choose obama or America. Think about it.
i saw the video. the guy they arrested did NOTHING except filming them. no disturbance or interference whatso-ever. secondly why was the dog not properly locked away? thirdly there was NO EXCUSE to shoot that dog. sure he lunged at the police officer but any dog would do that to protect its owner.
sadly, i am having to admit that america is turning into a fascist police state.
shame on you, shame on the policemen and shame for not doing anything about it.
and i hope those cops get proper justice.
Thank you wouter for your observation and reasoned comment. The video clearly shows that Leon Rosby was not interfering with the police in any way and was outside the area of police activity. Rosby’s dog Max was leashed at all times and well behaved. What was not evident from the video was that at the time the police approached Mosby and falsely arrested him, the robbery suspects had been apprehended and were in police custody. There are reports that there was loud music coming from Mosby’s car. The elevator ( background ) music audible in the video was not disturbing or distracting. It was a police talking point, not an issue and certainly did not violate any laws. At the very least, the officers who falsely arrested Leon Rosby and the officer who shot & killed Max should be disarmed and dismissed from the force. There are certainly other municipal or public service jobs that the officers could be offered that would not require or allow them to be armed & dangerous in and to the community.
Unfortunately, since Clinton, our police have been trained differently- the reason it is no longer “to protect and to serve” is because he was the first to get the police into the police state mind, his admin started the “lists” of people to watch out for , like crazy fundy Christians, and Ron Paul supporters along with the usual suspects. (KKK, etc). That was right before the “multijurisdictional task force” that converged on the Branch Davidians, ( and before them, Randy Weaver) and their training has been toward this end ever since. And things have only gotten worse. They are taught that we are the enemy now, not those to be protected. I have been wathing the growth of the Police State and the coming implantable microchip (mark of the beast) since 1991, and things are really filling out like I had hoped it wouldn’t.
There is much too much of this. Shoot my dog unnecessarily and I will shoot you for it.
Amen . . . And should you be arrested and tried and I should be lucky enough to serve on the jury, rest assured you will not be convicted.
It does appear that the public has changed their view of the police. The traditional “Protect and Serve” has been replaced with “Brutalize and Kill” by our police departments. People are now becoming vocal about the abuse the police are dishing out on a regular basis. My concern is that the Police Departments are hiring and promoting more violence, that a day is approaching where no body is going to trust any of them for anything. Once that day comes it is going to get ugly. My hope is that the police stop the abuse of the citizens before things get to the point of a rebellion against the police.
It is remotely possible that better psychological screening and training could have prevented this unnecessary and unacceptable incident. This is not the first report of police officers shooting family pets that were protecting their owners or their homes. It must stop. Unless or until there is a proven better solution, the officers must; lose their priviledge of owning and or carrying a gun, be terminated from the police force and the departments where the offending officers are employed should be sued and fined in the millions of dollars. That said, shooting & killing the dog happened because and while the dog’s owner was being falsely arrested.
False arrest too is on the increase and must be stopped and severely punished as well. Entirely too many police department higher-ups overlook incidents of brutality and excessive force. All to often, offending officers are reassigned to other units such as apprehension units where aggression and excessive force are better tollerated. This practice is not a solution to the problem. Once a police officer abuses the priviledge of being allowed to carry a weapon, they must be terminated.
The incident was a textbook case of false arrest. L Leon Rosby had his dog Max leashed and under control at all times. When Max saw his owner Leon being surrounded by the police, handcuffed and being falsely arrested, Max jumped out if the car & went to protect his owner. There’s no price you can put on a dog like that, but $10 million is a good starting amout.
I am guessing you did not see the part where the man told his dog to back off and it did not? What part of the dog lunging off the ground at the officers throat is hard to recognize?
I saw the dog’s owner handcuffed with his hands behind his back, powerless to calm his dog down and unable to get the dog to stop trying to protect his owner. The video did not show the dog’s owner committing any arrestable crime and/or interfering with the police in any way as they performed of their duty.
I am sorry Michael but if you cannot recognize a domestic and possible hostage situation that is too bad. However reading the news stories from the local sources mention just that. The young man was told to lower the music because it interfered. He did not.
This of course was no traffic stop as you can see by watching the video. Two homes were involved as well as three police vehicles from the videograhpers perspective. Do a search on the original subject and read the news accounts.
Simple suggestion: Let them do their jobs.
He was asked to leave for his own safety and he was obstructing the situation.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/01/police-shoot-dog_n_3530990.html
Statement from the Hawthorne Police Department on the incident:
On June 30, 2013, at approximately 5:44pm, Officers from the Hawthorne Police Department responded to a residence in regard to an armed robbery – gun used — which occurred to two individuals inside of a home. Upon arrival, Officers engaged several subjects involved in the robbery, who quickly barricaded themselves in the home and refused orders to come out. Officers used several resources, including the Department’s armored tactical vehicle and a loud-speaker vehicle, in an attempt to communicate and bring the incident to safe resolution. After an approximate one hour and forty-five minute standoff, the individuals surrendered from teahouse and the suspect responsible for the robbery was identified and arrested.
During this evolving critical incident and the extraction of suspects from the home, Officers containing the location were interfered with by an individual. This interference included loud, distracting music (from the individual’s vehicle), and his intentional walking within close proximity to armed Officers, while holding an 80-pound Rottweiler on a long leash-line. These acts, in totality, created an increasingly dangerous situation and demanded officers’ focus away from the matter at hand. By comparison, numerous citizens were filming similarly as the suspect, but from a safe distance and compliant to Officers’ regards.
Once all parties to the original robbery incident were apprehended, two officers approached this suspect to address the violation(s) of law. Just prior to approach, the suspect placed his dog back into his car, but did not close the windows. AS the suspect was being taken into custody, his Rottweiler became agitated and jumped out of the car, approaching the officers who were making the arrest. An assisting officer came to aid and attempted to control the Rottweiler, first by gaining control of the leash. However, the dog lunged and made aggressive movements towards the officer(s). Fearing that the attacking Rottweiler would imminently bite the officer(s), one officer fired his duty weapon several times, striking and killing the dog. The suspect, later identified as Leon Rosby, was arrested and booked at the Hawthorne Police Department Jail for ‘Interference with Officer(s)’.
The Hawthorne Police Department is conducting a comprehensive investigation into the actions of each party, our Officers, and to ensure appropriate adherence to our Department polices and procedures. Additionally, the Department is truly sensitive to the invariable loss of the dog in this incident.
The Hawthorne Police Department asks that if any personal video taken by citizens present at the incident is wiling to be shared in our Investigation, please contact us.
There is a You Tube video that has more than 4 million viewings that clearly shows Leon Rosby in control of his leashed dog, nowhere near the police officers and definitely not interfering with the police in the performance of their duty. According to the published reports, the suspects that the police were after had been captured and were in police custody when the police handcuffed Leon Rosby and killed Max ( Leon’s dog.) Though there is sound on the You Tube video, no music – loud or otherwise, can be heard. Considering the unedited You Tube video and the published reports, there is very little doubt that the police falsely arrested Rosby and shooting his dog was completely inexcusable and unnecessary.
certainly not this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDBZr4ie2AE 4,612,684 views
There are no others with that many views and the first thing you hear is the music.
Yes – that is the video. I stand corrected . Soft, soothing, elevator type music could be heard in the video. The music was obviously not a distraction to the police because they were able to arrest the robbery suspects without injury or incident. Anyone viewing the video would not have known that the soft background music was coming from Leon Mosby’s was or the car Mosby put his dog Max in. At the point when the police arrested and handcuffed Mosby and killed his dog, the incident was over and the police had their robbery suspects in custody. Obviously the police were not so distracted by the music or Leon Mosby that they could not safely capture the suspects. Brutality and harassment are inexcusable behaviors not to be tollerated of armed police officers.
John Bad Elk v. U.S.
All the officers had to do was let go of the dog owner. Where was he going to go? If they were peace officers all they had to do was tell the owner to put the dog back in the car with the windows up enough so the dog would not escape, then call someone to come pick up the dog (and the car, I suppose). We constantly see and read about police violently over reacting. Used to be police were trained to defuse a possibly violent situation. Now they escalate it in the name of “officer safety”. What about citizen safety?
It has been shown in psychology experiments that putting a person in a position of unlimited power over others is Very likely to turn that person into an abuser. This fact desperately needs to be taken into account – we need to guard against it wherever such a situation occurs. Particularly cops and prison guards need to be very carefully vetted and watched and trained to be aware of this tendency so that they can beware of it.
ibeu2.mookie1.com? and adcito?
I had to reload 6 times to get this page to load completely.
How come of all the senses “Common” in the least used?
I watched the video, I followed it up with further research. The police were responding to a domestic violence situation with possible hostages.
The dog attacked the officer, he was justified in shooting. If he had not shot the dog he would have been wounded or dead because the dog was going for the throat. What then? another dead officer or worse permanently disabled? If the owner had not been acting the a$$ and obstructing the officers with the loud music, (the officers needed quiet in order to hear the people speaking from the home) the dog would be alive today and we would not be making an issue of this.
It is the owners fault anybody with a clear mind can see it. Do not assume because you were not there. have you ever been in a situation like this? I have in 1995 during a combined authority major drug bust that netted over 120 dealers around Virginia Beach Virginia. I personally found the family of one home dismembered and two criminals hiding inside kitchen cabinets.
Fact: More officers are killed and wounded during domestic violence situations than all others.
The man reported the police were attacking him the video shows otherwise. It is perfectly legal to video the police as been held up in the supreme court. It is not acceptable to obstruct or endanger the lives of the people or the police by interfering. I feel sorry for the dog it was just being a dog.
I do not feel sorry for the man because he brought it all on himself.
Side note: The fellow had been arrested a few times in the past he has a record. He was already a problem child. Is this what you want as a neighbor?
Apparently he did not learn to follow the law from previous run ins. Common sense dictates leave the police to do their jobs.
Video tape all you want, do not endanger others, he was doing this for attention, I guess he got it.
You’re a fool or a troll. The officers made a false arrest and deserved to be attacked. It’s as simple as that. TYhe dog did the only right thing.
The threats the Hawthorne Police Department are receiving are well deserved & justified especially in so much as the officers who falsely arrested Leon Rosby and the officer who shot Rosby’s dog Max have not been disarmed, disciplined and/or fired. The You Tube video clearly proves that Leon Rosby was not creating any disturbance, was not interfering in any way with the officers performing their duty and that Rosby had his dog leashed and under control at all times until the officers falsely arrested Rosby. The Hawthorne Police Department is well advised to dismiss the officer who shot & killed Leon Rosby’s dog because that officer has clearly demonstrated that he cannot be trusted to carry, own or responsibly use a firearm.
If the dude hadn’t gone out there jiving his ass up and down the street it would have never happened.He purposely put himself there in a taunting manner with a scary dog.Because he already had something going on with the police department.Cause and effect then blame others.It’s the same scenario over and over.Now come the death threats that were just waiting there anyway.
elf on the scene with loud music and a scary dog.He already had a situation going with the PD.As far as threats go they are already there just waiting for an excuse.
While I do agree that some police have gone too far and have traded morality for some personal sense of authority and have made errors in abuse what you see in the video is correct. He did the crime and his dog did attack. Nothing more or less than that.
What I also am seeing in many of the comments is cognitive dissonance. Some people do not want to see nor recognize that the man was at fault and interfering in a police event where many people were in danger. Not just the police nor just the people in the house.
This was an armed robbery situation and everyone in the area was within the range of accidental kill shots.
People cry and complain when a family member is accidentally shot by a stray bullet and that IS a terrible thing. However it is a possibility in every situation. Yet these “bystanders” who are all hoping to see carnage like some sick NASCAR fan or those who are hoping to “catch” something on video just so they can gain some street or youtube cred. By providing the sensational video that catches the police in the act of committing some sort of brutality. There is profit in selling your video to the news services, yet is it worth it? Especially if you get yourself or someone else killed in the event. If you get yourself killed then it is your fault but if you get someone else killed you have to live with it.
This man has to live with the death of his dog. He will go to court and he will lose. This video and the dash camera recordings will be enough to convict.
I get it that some people are angry at the police for negative events that have happened, however not all police are negative. Considering that there are perhaps a million police in service today relatively few are bad and a few bad apples do not spoil the whole bunch.
Just as many people are ready to assume that every soldier is bad and every cop who was a soldier is twice as bad. Assumptions can cause a lot of problems and every case has to be determined in an individual basis. On the merits alone.
While I do expect lynching parties in the future especially when it comes to criminal and illegal politicians I do not want to see the people becoming what they abhor by losing their morality and becoming the very thing they are rebelling against.
Oh give it a rest already. America is the most over-legislated and over-regulated society in the world. Everything that we Americans eat, wear or do violates some law or ordinance. Proof is evidenced by the fact that the U.S. has the highest prison population of any other country in the world. Law enforcement can only function through selective targeted enforcement and making highly visible examples of certain individuals. Most reasonable law abiding citizens will agree that the You Tube video proves that Leon Rosby did not interfere in any way with the police and that he was an innocent victim of police harassment, abuse and false arrest.
Just to set the record straight, at the time Leon Rosby was arrested, the police had the burgularly suspects in custody. Rosby’s dog was leashed, very well behaved and under control until the police swarmed Leon Rosby and handcuffed him. Mosby’s dog Max perceived the police action as a threat to his owner. All that said, the video does not show Rosby breaking any laws and proves that he was being falsely arrested.
Michael,
It is all in the personal interpretation. That is your right. Do not expect everyone to see things as you or I do. It will all come out in court. We will have absolutely nothing to to with it.
I know that I will never act the as$ in any situation such as that I pray you will not as well.
Unfortunately most incidents of false arrest and police brutality never make it to trial and the public never hears about them. As a general rule, prosecutors do not proceed with the cases but don’t make their decision until the very last moment on the day of the trial. The public seldom hears about these cases except for the most sensational ones. As bad as shooting Leon Rosby’s dog Max was, there have been several dash cam You Tube videos of police officers performing cavity searches on women in public on the side of the road during minor traffic stops.
In time and hopefully soon those “officers” who do such things will be dealt with. The US government is doomed to failure. The people will not continue to support these things. They are waking up, conversations are taking place. We have neared a threshold and it may take a lot more or just a little to finally get the people to realize that this cannot continue.
Then then $hit will hit the fan. It will not be pretty.
The nail right on the head, Michael!!! Nothing else needs to be said about this.