Guest Post by Simon Black
This one is pretty disturbing.
In January 2016, Detroit police were tipped off that someone was selling small quantities of marijuana out of their home.
Given that the City of Detroit’s murder rate exceeds that of Mexico, you’d think that the Police Department would have had bigger fish to fry.
Apparently they didn’t. So the cops obtained a search warrant and went over to the house.
They knocked, waited a moment, then busted down the door, where they found the resident Nikita Smith had just put two of her dogs in the basement, and was enclosing a third one in the bathroom, before going to open the door.
One of the dogs got out of the basement and returned to her owner, Ms. Smith.
The cops claim the “vicious” beast was “charging.” So they unloaded with a shotgun blast to the animal’s head, plus seven more rounds from another officer’s handgun.
But the blood lust didn’t end there.
The officers knew that there were two more dogs in the home– one in the basement, one in the bathroom. Both were restrained, as was Ms. Smith.
The cops could have called animal control. They could have done a dozen other things.
Instead, Detroit Police officers went into the bathroom and killed the second dog… then down to the basement where they killed the third dog.
Finally, with all three dogs executed and the home’s resident in custody, police conducted a full search of the home… finding a big fat ONE OUNCE of marijuana, barely enough to qualify as a misdemeanor.
Then the cops called animal control to clean up the dead dogs’ bodies.
The charges against Ms. Smith were ultimately dismissed because the cops didn’t even bother to show up for the court hearing.
And an internal police investigation found that shooting the dogs was justified.
All said and done, the cops simply entered a woman’s home, and went room by room killing her pets, charged her with a petty misdemeanor, and then didn’t even bother to see through this ridiculous insult to justice.
Most people consider their pets members of the family. But under law, they are property.
That’s what adds insult to injury. There is no recourse for murdered pets, it is simply unlawful destruction of property.
So Smith sued the officers for unconstitutionally destroying her property, in violation of the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure.
But the courts dismissed the suit. You see, Smith had committed another crime. She failed to get the dogs licensed.
The dogs weren’t family members. They weren’t even property. They were contraband, according to the court, and Smith had no legal right to them because they weren’t registered.
Smith is trying again– she filed an appeal earlier this month in the US Court of Appeals, hoping to be able to hold the Detroit Police Department accountable for its actions.
I wish her the best; it’s hard enough holding them accountable for killing humans, let alone pets.
This whole situation is pretty revolting.
Police can kick down your door because a neighbor gives them some phony tip or claims to have witnessed a completely trivial, victimless ‘crime’.
They can execute your pets like Nazi war criminals without even a slap on the wrist.
And when you try to seek damages, you get snubbed by the courts for failing to follow some ridiculous bureaucratic procedure.
Does this whole charade make the public any safer? I’d worry who would be the next victim of these trigger-happy police… or these completely abusive rules… not the person selling cannabis (which by the way has already been partially decriminalized in Michigan.)
At the very least it’s a total waste of resources for such a trivial crime, especially in a cash-strapped, bankrupt city like Detroit.
Don’t live in that city, Deetroit
Cop Fuk’s story. My son and his wife manage a convenient store in the evenings. After they close up it is 11:30 PM One recent evening they decided to go and get something to eat after they closed up. Being that they live rather rural. The closest eatery open at that hour was 25 miles away. In a small nearby city. After driving there eating and then leaving. It was 1 AM. As soon as they pulled out of the restaurant. A NY State revenue seeker put their lights on. The revenue seeker asked him if he knew why he puled him over. My son stated NO. The revenue seeker then stated that he was pulled over for the heinous crime(sarc. added) of improper license plate lights. The car is 6 months old!!!! The revenue seeker went back to write the ticket. Upon returning the revenue seeker asked my son to roll the window all the way down. It was half open,because it was a late fall NY morning,and his wife is pregnant. My son stated that the window was fine where it was,and he would just take the ticket. At that moment the revenue seeker became very nasty. He said my sons eyes looked glassy.Had he been drinking. He stated NO. That he had just completed a 12 hour shift,and was perhaps a bit tired. The revenue seeker then demanded. “Get Out Of The Car.” By the time he got out of the seat belt there were 3 more cars with lights flashing surrounding them. They put him up against the car,while another made him follow his finger. At that point the revenue seeker looked at the initial cop fuk and stated I got nothing. They got in their cars and left with not even an apology. When my son tried to get the court to look at the lights in question. They said We don’t do that. Cost of ticket….$105.00. The state of NY is so broke they have you guilty from the jump. F**K the NY state revenue seekers. If I seen one dying on the side of the road. I would just keep going.
It is absurd to detach yourself from civil society by ignoring laws and ordinances and then seek recourse from the same system you disregard.
Not that I agree with any of the actions or have no sympathy, only that their logic is flawed when it comes to seeking a redress of their grievance.
I see your hidden meaning there.
I agree. It sucks, but if she was following the rules, she would have more of a case. Not that it matters- you know the odds are stacked in favor of the house.
The higher type of man clings to virtue, the lower type of man clings to material comfort. The higher type of man cherishes justice, the lower type of man cherishes the hope of favors to be received.
Confucius
Play the game as best you’re able. Like it or not LEO has the power to “do” you with impunity. If you find their action(s) egregious, “there’ll be time enough for countin’ when the dealin’s done”.
Sorry, I support the cops here. I’m sick of people and their ‘dogs’. Why we must tolerate these shit spewing, disease spreading animals just because a barren woman is ‘lonely’ or because someone in an apartment wants ‘protection’ is their problem not mine. Get a boyfriend or buy a gun or alarm system but don’t inflict your emotional problems on others!
I hope they murder your children with the same impunity because I am really sick of screaming kids all over the place. Get a gun or alarm but don’t inflict your out of control children on others.
You are the weakest link with your complete lack of comprehension, understanding, and compassion. May your loved ones be gunned down by the militarized police as soon as possible.
Children are the future of the human race. Dogs are the future of…nothing really.
I’m with you, especially if they were useless pit bulls. Detroit has a huge problem with these shitty dogs and the idiots who own them. Some examples are this little boy who was with his mom when four pit bulls who were known to get out grabbed him, dragged him under a fence and disemboweled him in front of his mother. The asshat the owned the dogs got 5 years probation for murdering a child.
Here are more Detroit attacks: https://www.dogsbite.org/dogsbite-search-results.php?cx=003395341087663039786%3Aze_5rreyew4&cof=FORID%3A11&ie=UTF-8&q=Detroit&sa.x=0&sa.y=0
On the average, 600 Americans end up at a trauma center due to pit bull attacks EVERY DAY. Every day, about three of those people will be so severely injured they will be disabled or disfigured for LIFE, mostly at cost to the taxpayers: http://occupymaulstreet.blogspot.com/2012/11/animal-un-controlhave-animal-control.html
About every 5.6 days someone loses a body part in a pit bull attack, and every 14 days someone is murdered in the US by a pit bull to the tune of over 500 dead, most being children: http://www.fatalpitbullattacks.com
And I can’t count the number of people killed and/or hurt by humans. Look at Detroit and Chicago. Should cops simply shoot humans as well? And how many of those humans’ health care is being paid at taxpayer expense?
And every day CopFuks kill an average of 3 people, should we get rid of them also?
People in my area are charged for killing animals or leaving them outside when it’s cold or leaving them in cars on hot days. The fact these cops can kill someone’s pets for such a stupid reason is nonsense, especially when they are locked behind a door and not a threat. By the way, I didn’t read that the woman had the dogs because she was lonely and barren.
I had two large dogs (one died) and now I have one large dog. It’s for protection. When this one dies, I’ll get two more large dogs. People don’t generally bother you or come to the door if large dogs are present. It’s simpler than shooting someone. On top of that, they’re great companions and loved.
I’m not sure what happened to you with dogs, but your being sick of dogs is not a good enough reason for the cops to be justified.
Have you seen this guy? Hysterical!
It’s Halloween. I’ll be the perceived devil’s advocate , and put up another possible side of the story that Simon Blackwashes a city with such a wide brush.
Bilco’s story is about copfuks.
Maybe the case Black brings up that is almost 3 years old has other factors he doesn’t know about or just doesn’t report.
Maybe the cops were dispatched.
Maybe the house was a neighborhood drug den, with cars coming and going at all hours, with shady thugs in and out.
Maybe there was gunfire there in previous instances.
Maybe la femme Nikita got shitty with cops, sent out to investigate a legit drug dealer who was down to her last oz.
Maybe the dogs were pit bulls, as pictured, notorious for fight to the death danger.
Maybe it was 1 a.m., and animal control was off duty at that hour.
Maybe one of the cops previously had his lower leg turned into bloody hamburger by a thugs pitbull 6 months previous.
Who else is gonna work to keep law and order in such a place, for maybe $30k / year?
If I’m in that role, and was dispatched to that scenario, and 2 pitbulls are a threat to my health and well being, I ain’t playing St. Francis, waiting for the owner to get control of her junkyard dogs, and I certainly would not call animal control to come remove the threat, so I can proceed to investigate a complaint.
Maybe this was an isolated incident, one that has undoubtedly happened in other shitholes.
Unfair, cruel shit happens in shitholes.
Spare me the Cops bad, poor, sweet little canines good, whole city fucked up and here’s proof.
I like animals, and dogs in particular as much as any appreciative owner.
A few years back, Detroit also had an instance where an older lady was walking with 2 small grandchildren past a fenced yard, where 2 pitbulls got under the fence, and mauled the kids to death. Is that Granny’s fault?
Detroit’s?
I wouldn’t live there, either.
Some dogs should not be trusted, and never considered more valuable than human beings trying to walk by, or do their job.
Check out the scene in The Green Mile, when Hanks goes to visit Gary Sinise. As a prosecutor, he was wrong about John Coffey, but he was right to put a bullet in the head of the family dog that took out his son’s eye in an attack.
This article was nothing more than a biased hit job, on a few cops put in a shitty position, and on a city.
Easy to play Monday morning quarterback, as the lawsuit drags on, further depleting resources already thin to begin with.
I’m in the cops corner on this one.
Dogs behind closed doors. If they got loose game on. Owner could have leashed them in order to search rooms dogs were in and put in another room. 30 K a year? Think not. Cops with guns are force. I had a swat team show up in my gated and fenced back yard after the all clear was robocalled. They all had plenty of weapons. My dog (Lab) almost got through doggie door before I grabbed his collar. They trampled flower beds and stood in them while shooting the shit with my neighbor. Had my dog ran out barking they would have all shot him. Because cops. And they knew the perp was apprehended and the all clear was given. But qualified immunity leaves no recourse.
https://www1.salary.com/MI/Detroit/police-officer-salary.html
I’ll concede your valid points, Sub. I had the salary wrong.
And it’s agreed, that people w/ their dogs who just want to be left alone should never be violated, humiliated, injured or killed by abusive dicks with badges and guns. Especially in their own home. Not defending jack booted types like that. SWAT teams are way too aggressive, with no repercussions when they trample and destroy innocents.
Militarization of police forces is scary and wrong.
If that’s what the facts truly reveal, then yeah, the scorn for them is deserved.
The weed aspect is a private matter, and personal use should be legalized, IMO.
The intent was to put forth other possibilities that may have factored into the situation.
Don’t know all the facts surrounding the actual event, and the reporting in this post seemed awfully one-sided. Many inner cities can be shitholes. Bad cops are a small part of it, but not the primary cause of the problems that produce the effect there.
If a writer is good, readers can be influenced, and get swept up in being judge, jury and executioners without any consideration of hearing any explanations from the accused.
In the middle of a fast paced confrontation, it’s probably not easy for all to quickly and correctly choose the most humane way to defuse a threatening situation. Tough problem.
Maybe best to just let the litigation play out, but suspect whoever loses will always cry about injustice.
Cops. Like lawyers. Despicable. Until you or someone you love reluctantly needs one?
Maybe most here can fend for themselves, and LEO interaction is to be avoided at all costs.
Too many bad run-ins with cops will give mostly decent people that experienced opinion.
But there are a lot of law abiding people who might not be able to defend themselves, and have to pin their hopes on a noble LEO to intervene & protect, if something really ugly comes barging in with bad intent. Not a good position to be in.
If we lump all cops into the shit bin, and law and order breaks down, well, that’s a place where we’d never want to be, regardless of how many rounds of lead we have at our disposal. IMO.
You may be playing devil’s advocate and showing a “possible” other side, but shooting dogs that are already locked away and absolutely not a threat is not right. The first dog, though a hasty decision by the cops, I can possibly understand, but not the other two locked-up dogs, regardless of prior experience in the neighborhood or house. After all, the jury will never hear about anything prior because it’s not relevant to the case.
Maybe if Spartacus had close air support he would have beaten Rome’s legions.
Stay in the “cops’ corner”. You look good there.
If a citizen committed animal cruelty, a sure marker of a violent person, they would catch hell.
“There is no recourse for murdered pets, it is simply unlawful destruction of property.”
Oh YES there is…… I’d hunt each one of ’em down in a Dark Alley and put a double-tap .45 right between their eyes….. And sleep well at night about it too…..
Better make sure there are no surveillance cameras around first or you better be extremely camouflaged.
Theres a pyschology behind this whole thing. There really is!
Her attorney has done most of his discover in regards to the case which as the article said is headed to the court of appeals . The information he discovered was astounding,medical records of the cops at the house showed that all of the officers were missing their balls. Yep…nutless wonders !
First thing I would do is move and take my tax money with me.
Yet Q has all the answers.
Large dogs are a great first line.
Thats all I got to add.
KaD above is he only one who gets it.
Look, y’all know I generally hate copfuks. In this particular instance I am hesitant to blame the copfuks because there isn’t enough information.
Does the article say what type of dogs they were? No. (I don’t know if the supplied picture is a stock photo or actual photo.)
Don’t you think that’s an important piece of information?? After all, there’s a big difference between 3 toy poodles and 3 Doberman’s.
Let’s try to guess. Kneegrows. Detroit. A drug infested area. Virtually every dog walker (Kneegrows) on my street is a Pit Bull owner. I feel with 99% certainty that the dogs in this story were Pit Bulls. Were they well treated Pit Bulls? If so, no problem. Were they mistreated, or specially raised to attack anyone coming on the property? If so, that’s a BIG problem. One angry Pit Pull can scare the shit out of anyone … just imagine three of them especially, again, if they were trained to be aggressive.
There are enough legitimate bad stories about copfuks without resorting to skewing an article to make them look bad.
I understand your point, Stucky, but two of those dogs were behind closed doors, and not a threat, regardless of breed, whether to protect the dogs or the cops in unknown. The first dog that got out of the door, I can understand.
Definition of murder
(Entry 1 of 2)
1 : the crime of unlawfully killing a PERSON especially with malice aforethought was convicted of murder
Pit Bulls Attacking Their Owners
So far this year, pit bulls have inflicted six deadly “owner attacks.” Of the 22 fatal pit bull attacks since January, 68% (15) involved a pit bull killing a family member. There have been many high profile nonfatal “owner attacks” by pit bulls involving dramatic rescues as well. In September, firefighters in Springfield, Ohio had to climb through a window to rescue Kathy Engle, 51, and a 4-year old child she was babysitting from Engle’s own attacking pit bull, which had a bite history.
Also in September, a Des Moines police officer sped onto a woman’s front lawn and shot the pit bull attacking her. Sandra Riggan, 49, was moving out of her home with the help of two movers, when her own pit bull suddenly attacked her. “I thought I was going to see her die in front of me today,” said her friend Pamela Dishman, who witnessed the attack. “It was horrible. I mean, I’m watching my friend and she’s being attacked, almost killed it seems like,” Dishman said.
Riggan later posted graphic photographs of her injuries on her Facebook page and her GoFundMe page, where not a single donation was ever left. In a September 8 post — one day after the violent attack — Riggan stated in a Facebook post showing a photo of her three pit bulls, I “still love my dogs.” In a September 22 post, Riggan claims the attack was redirected aggression. The male pit bull was actually after the movers, but attacked her instead because he could not reach them.
“He stopped attacking as long as I was letting him try to get in the house at those movers.” – Sandra Riggan, Facebook, September 22, 2018
In August, firefighters in West Palm Beach had to climb through a second story window to rescue two people after their pit bull attacked them. Neighbors told CBS 12 the owners knew the dog was vicious. There was even a Beware of Dog sign on their door. The pit bull apparently “barricaded” its owners upstairs after the attack, forcing firefighters to enter through the window. That is your tax dollars at work, saving pit bull owners from their own dogs with a known history of aggression.
In July, police in Taylor Mill, Kentucky carried out the dramatic rescue of two pit bull owners. When police arrived the family pit bull was actively attacking one of its owners in the backyard, while its owner moaned, “Shoot it please.” The officer open fired on the dog. “On more shot,” the officer shouted. “He’s still breathing, put him out of his misery.” When police stepped into the home, it looked like the scene of a massacre with blood on the floor, furniture and up and down the walls.
Family members said the 4-year old pit bull, named Rocky, did not have a history of aggression. The injured owner lying in the backyard, who was “bleeding out everywhere” and required an ambulance, “ASAP,” according to police officers at the scene, uttered to the officers, “That dog, he’s been good forever. And thank you for killing him.” All-in-all, Rocky the “good” family pit bull, viciously attacked two family members, sending both of them to the hospital with serious injuries.
Lawmakers have to stop listening to the nonsense about breed specific laws which is spouted by the owners of bully dogs like pit bulls. Since 2006 there have been 3 psychological studies which focused on the personality and behavioral traits of the owners of pit bulls and other high-risk breeds of dog. A study published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence showed a link between ownership of high-risk dog breeds and deviant behaviors, crimes against children and domestic violence. Another study concluded that “vicious dog ownership may be a simple marker of broader social deviance.” A third study established that the owners of high-risk breeds of dog displayed more antisocial thinking styles, have an arrest history significantly higher than owners of other dogs, and engage in fighting to a significantly greater degree than other dog owners. They also had higher levels of overall criminal thinking patterns to go with the actual criminal behavior. These people, who are fixated on the animals that kill, maim and terrorize, are not the people that a lawmaker needs in his camp. Reasonable people want fair laws that provide a solution to the obvious problems caused by pit bulls.
http://thetruthaboutpitbulls.blogspot.com/2013/09/legal-experts-and-enemy-of-humanity.html
Overall, dogs––again especially pit bulls––are injuring people and other animals about four times as often as a decade ago. Despite soaring dog attack deaths and fatalities, police have become relatively hesitant to pull the trigger, apparently intimidated by public criticism and six-figure payouts in some of the handful of cop-shot-dog cases found unjustified by courts of law.
In consequence, civilians are three times more likely than a decade ago to be injured by dogs before police shoot the dogs, and police themselves are more than twice as likely to be hurt before they shoot. Counting injuries to police canine officers, police casualties from dog attacks are up twelvefold in 10 years. Pit bulls are 83% of dogs shot by cops.