California police on Sunday arrested a man for playing music and videotaping them, and then fatally shot his pet dog after the animal jumped from an open car window.
Police arrested Leon Rosby, 52, near the scene of a SWAT barricade in Hawthorne, California. Officers were responding to an armed robbery, and claimed Rosby was disturbing the crime scene by playing loud music and videotaping the showdown with his cell phone.
“They had asked me why am I there?” Rosby later told NBC4. “And I said I was filming them so that no one’s civil rights were being violated.”
Cell phone video from a witness shows Rosby walking his dog while watching the police response to the robbery. The Usher song “Tell Me Again” was playing on repeat in his parked rental car, which had the windows rolled down.
Police claim that Rosby ignored their first request to turn down the music. Hawthorne police Lt. Scott Swain told the Daily Breeze that it interfered with their response to the robbery. A neighbor claims that Rosby cursed at police in response – a statement that the 52-year-old denies.
An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube on June 30, 2013 by user@gabriel martinez
“It’s distracting the officers,” Swain said. “It’s interfering with what they are able to hear. It’s not just a party call. It’s an armed robbery call. The officers need to hear what’s going on with the people being called out of the residence. That music in his car is bleeding over and it’s distracting them.”
Rosby admitted that he should have complied, but believes the police response was unnecessarily brutal. After officers arrested the suspected robber, they motioned to Rosby and told him to put the dog in his car. He complied, leaving his Rottweiler in the backseat with the windows open.
Rosby then walked toward the officers, turned and put his hands behind his back, waiting to be arrested. As the man was being handcuffed, the dog started barking loudly and jumped out of the window. While barking, the dog approached the police, and video footage shows the 130-pound animal lunging at one officer.
“I said, ‘No, Max!” Rosby told the Daily Breeze, describing his reaction to the barking dog. One police officer took out his gun and fired four shots at the dog, fatally wounding the animal. The dog writhed in pain, kicking its back legs and convulsing until it died on the street. Rosby’s knees buckled as he cried out for his dog. He later told NBC4 that his animal was not just shot, but “executed”.
“There was no way Max should have died like that,” Rosby said. “Max was only protecting his master. He was trying to stop them from beating on me.”
The owner says he was “crying and hollering, ‘My dog! My dog! Max! Max!”
An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube on June 30, 2013 by user@gabriel martinez
Neighbors who were at the scene cried out at the sight of the dying dog, and witness Samantha Othieno told ABC7 that she is deeply disturbed by what she saw.
“I started screaming,” she said. “Now I’m traumatized. I never saw someone get shot or get killed or see anything get killed like that.”
After the dog was shot to death, Rosby was taken to the police station and spent a night in jail on suspicion of obstruction. He was released Monday morning. He claims police were out to get him because of previous encounters with officers. Rosby already filed six complaints against the Hawthorne Police Department for mistreatment and racial profiling.
“There’s been a pattern of harassment against him and other African-Americans in Hawthorne,” Rosby’s attorney, Michael Gulden, told the Daily Breeze. “Last July, the police responded to his home and beat him unnecessarily, then threw him in jail for no reason. We sued for that. We’ll amend that complaint to include the dog incident.”
WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC FOOTAGE
Source: RT
Fascism right and centre for all to see!
What planet are you from? You did not watch the video of course. If you did, I am guessing you support people being a$$es and creating dangerous situations?
You are totally clueless and this just serves to prove you are a troll.
I guess you are also all over the Trayvon Martin murder?
The dog was not “killed” as an intent it was killed because it was going to attack the officer. The man was acting the fool and brought this on himself. The music was uncalled for and obstructing justice. He endangered both the police and the bystanders.
If he had left well enough alone his dog would be alive and they would be enjoying the 4th today.
There was no sign of the police using excessive force and they all knew they were being video’ed.
He brought this all on himself. The only crime was one of his parents for failing to raise him with common sense.
Considering his past he might qualify as a poster child for abortion.
Hey so I have seen you post on other videos and you seem like a smart man who i definately want on my side when the shit hits the fan but in this you are very wrong in my point of view. Agreed he was being an asshole but thats not illegal or an arrestable offence, and dont tell me his loud music interefered with the police in anyway what soever cause you know thats bullshit, they were just mad he didnt do what they said when they said it. the police messed up first by illegally arresting this man any following actions/consequences can then be tracked back to their illegal action and therefore this dogs death is their fault. this is wrong and if you cant see that then thats why they have been able to destroy your freedoms bit by bit, because if you accept this you set a precedent for what they can do next. he was an asshole that got his dog killed, fact remains however the cops broke the law and murdered his dog
I went and did further research on this. The police were responding to a domestic violence hostage situation in the house on the right. There fore the music could have / would have interfered with verbal negotiations between the people in the house and the police outside by making it hard to hear. Mistakes could have been made and people killed because of this man interfering. He is lucky that did not happen.
I served a tour as military police at Naval Air Station Oceana Virginia, We worked closely and assisted the Virginia Beach Police daily. Remember the huge drug bust that took place in 1995? The one that netted 123 dealers, a family was found dismembered in their home. I found their “parts” in the process of being readied for disposal, there were two people hiding inside kitchen cabinets when I entered. Luckily for me they ran out of bullets. I know from experience the dangers of domestic situations. Add into that the possibility of different languages and things like slang or cultural differences and you have a tinderbox situation.
In domestic violence situations police get wounded and killed more than in any other. It is just a fact of employment.
In addition the man in the video has been in trouble numerous times. This was not his first offense and his claiming it was racially motivated just as he claimed they were beating on him was BS. If you have a history and instead of learning the follow the rules, do what he did what can you expect? I feel sorry for the dog but it happens. The fellow brought it all on himself.
Do not interfere. Video tape all you want because that is not illegal and the supreme court has ruled in favor of the persons video taping every time. If video taping is so important to you then buy a quality camera and a long range lens, do it right instead of becoming a target in the firing range of stray bullets. Do not endanger others in your pursuit of extremist heroic recognition. Because that is exactly what this man was doing, hoping he could catch “police brutality” on video and make grab a little internet fame. People get paid for their videos if they catch the “sensationalism”.
This situation could have been a lot worse.