Pit Bulls and Cape Cod Don't mix

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http://www.capecodonline.com/cctimes/familyirate2.htm

Family irate after police raid home, killing their pit bull
By JASON KOLNOS
STAFF WRITER
CENTERVILLE - Police raided a Strawberry Hill Road home in search of an allegedly dangerous teen. Wendy Perry holds a photo of her pit bull, Max, as her husband views the pet's remains in the trunk of the family car. The animal was killed by members of the Banstable-Yarmouth Special Response Team during a raid on the Perry home in Centerville.
Early yesterday morning and in the process shot to death a black pit bull described by the family as a loving pet. Police were looking for a 16-year-old who allegedly pulled a gun on a resident of Pine Street in Hyannis around 10 p.m. Wednesday and threatened to kill him. Witnesses said the teen fired a shot in the air before fleeing, according to police. As of last night, police still were searching for the teen and the gun.

In their search for the boy Wednesday night, police obtained a ''no-knock'' warrant for the Centerville home of his mother, Wendy Perry. Twelve members of the Barnstable-Yarmouth Special Response Team arrived there around 2:30 a.m. yesterday. The police team is trained to deal with hostile situations.

''He had a loaded gun and we didn't know his intentions,'' Barnstable Sgt. Michael Damery said of the teen. After approaching the unlocked door, Damery said, police identified themselves and faced the barking dog. Police screamed several times for someone to restrain the dog, a 60-pound pit bull named Max, Damery said. The dog was acting very aggressively, barking ferociously and lunging at a police officer, he said.

An officer then shot Max once, killing him just outside the doorway. ''We feel bad that the dog had to be put down in this manner,'' Damery said. ''But this dog seriously delayed us securing the house and threatened the safety of our officers.''

According to standard protocol, officers then handcuffed all five people at the house, including Perry, her husband, her brother, and her 14-year-old twins, Damery said. ''Everyone in that house could conceivably be who we are looking for,'' Damery said. Or, he said, they could have been aiding the teen.

Police released the family and left when they determined the 16-year-old was not in the house. Perry is livid at what she called a ''completely inappropriate response.'' She and her son are estranged, she said, and he hasn't lived at her house for some time. Police were wrong to handcuff her other children and acted arbitrarily in killing the family pet, she said. She wants an apology and police to pay the $145 to have Max, whom she described as one of her children, cremated.

''They never afforded us the opportunity to restrain Max before shooting him in close range,'' Perry said. ''Anyone who has met the dog will tell you he has never acted in an aggressive manner.''

The family pleaded with officers to let them restrain the dog, she said, describing the animal as a 5-year-old American pit bull. Max was barking as any dog would if confronted by a dozen strangers with automatic weapons, Perry said. Perry and other family members adamantly denied the dog lunged at officers.

''The running family joke is that he is a poodle dressed as a pit bull,'' she said. ''He was a big, gentle baby who never had any problems.'' The dog was shot because he was a pit bull and the breed has a reputation for being menacing, Perry said. Breed doesn't matter, Damery said, if a dog threatens an officer or prohibits police from doing their jobs. Police had seconds to make this decision, he said, because they thought any delay might allow the suspect to get more weapons or escape.

''Waiting for the dog to bite before entering would be akin to waiting to get shot or stabbed before entering a hostage situation,'' said Damery. Of the more than 150 Cape incidents involving the response team, this is the first time officers have killed anything, man or beast, police said. They have encountered aggressive dogs in more than half of those situations but none as aggressive as Perry's dog, Damery said.

Police said they have visited Perry's house for several incidents since last year. At their most recent visit in April, an officer noted that he saw a ''large, aggressive pit bull on location,'' said Barnstable Sgt. Sean Sweeney.

Thomas M. Burns of Veterinary Associates of Cape Cod in South Yarmouth, Max's vet since he was a puppy, could say only good things about the dog. ''This event saddens me because Max was an exceptionally sweet dog who clearly had a very loving and very caring owner,'' Burns said, referring to Perry.

''The bottom line is that all dogs could be protective of their pack if confronted with a threatening circumstance,'' said Burns, who said he owns a similar pit bull breed. ''I can see how a dozen unknown officers with guns bursting in at night could be a threatening circumstance.''

Jason Kolnos can be reached at [email protected].

(Published: June 2, 2006)

I feel sorry for the dog. But yet another article in the times taking the side of the white trash rather then the BPD. These people couldn't teach their kid how to properly treat a firearm. Do we expect that they could teach a dog how to sit, or just stop?
 
According to standard protocol, officers then handcuffed all five people at the house, including Perry, her husband, her brother, and her 14-year-old twins, Damery said. ''Everyone in that house could conceivably be who we are looking for,'' Damery said. Or, he said, they could have been aiding the teen.

Dunno if that is good reasoning. They're looking for a teenaged boy so they cuff everyone in the house because they could be him or because they MIGHT be harboring him. Come on. Anyone in the town 'could' be him or could be harboring him. Are they going to cuff EVERYONE?

Seems a little overly agressive to me.

I can see where the term JBT could come from.
 
Can't let all that costly swat training go unused now, can we?
I feel sorry for the mutt, but they are aggressive, mean, strong
and dangerous, just like the JBT's. Something had to give and I
have yet to see a dog beat a .45. The JBT's had to kill the dog in
order to excercise their overwhelming superior power over the
occupants. The order of the day is: We're going in, we're kicking
ass, and we're not taking names. Screw with us and we will kill
you. Remember Rugy Ridge and Waco. There is nothing more
dangerous than a jacked up, testosterone fueled, gang of thugs
who have been given ultimate authority over whether you live or
die, and who don't have any restraints on their behavior. I find it
appalling that these thugs won't tailor their procedures for different
situations.

TBP
 
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I still don't see the reasoning in owning a pitbull. Its more of a status statement by young kids these days to own a dog known for nothing more than being violent. Half the time these dogs are inbred and are mentally unstable as a result, let alone the violent trait most carry instinctively. They're often given away to kids who can't afford a purebred dog and don't care what kind of dog they wind up with.
Not trying to ruffle any feathers here and yeah some turn out to make fine pets but from my own experiences knowing people who have bred and owned them, 90% of them are just dumb violent animals often lacking loyalty that are left untrained. If someone is going to own such a dog, they at least need to train it, understand it, and be able to control it. Pretty much the same idea as owning a firearm.
 
Milsurps, just a quick word in defense of the pitbulls. I've only know a few people who had pitbulls and the dogs were all as normal or more loving than other dogs I've known. I won't blame a breed for the actions of the people who raise them. Unfortunately there are a lot of people out there who treat and raise animals poorly.

As for this story, it's tragic what happened and the way it happened.
 
I think that there must be a LOT MORE to this story than what we have here! Remember we don't trust the media because they tend to "warp" stories to fit their agenda? If they do it with gun issues, what makes you think we're getting the straight scoop here?

That said, I'm not about to take sides on this story. However, I'll give some 1st impressions based ONLY on the article as written:

- Any dog worthy being called "dog" is going to get aggressive and bark when their master(s) are being threatened! When someone comes crashing thru the door at 0230 hrs, the dog's job is to protect the residents! No matter how mild-mannered the dog is normally, this abnormal circumstances puts a dog "on guard".+

- Dogs don't like people in uniforms. I don't know why, but they tend to get aggressive with mailmen, UPS, police, fire, etc. Even in black ninja suits, it wouldn't surprise me for a dog to start barking and get aggressive.

- Unless the residents were in the living room, watching TV when the raid occurred, it takes a few seconds to get your bearings as to what is happening when the door comes crashing down at 0230 hrs. That is more time than the officers had to spare in either having someone deal with the dog or put it down! I love dogs, but I do see their point in putting the dog down. [It's NOT whether or not I agree with doing it, as I wasn't there and didn't see what they saw, but I just understand the immediacy of their decision.]

- If they have been at this house numerous times before, they "might" (or might not) have known that the family was estranged from the perp they sought. If so, the raid was totally uncalled for! Also since they had been there before, they were aware of the dog, and PERHAPS could have planned an alternate less-lethal means of dealing with the dog!

- On the face of it, a no-knock warrant seems rather excessive for the given facts. The excuse seems specious to me, but I am NOT an expert in such matters. My LE experience did not include any raids and a few events (stake outs) that I could have gotten tangled up in, I was intentionally not made aware of until after the event was over.

Like I said, a lot more info is required before figuring out if this all made sense or not. I would suspect that cuffing all residents is standard procedure, but do not know for certain. I'm also not sure if that constitutes an "arrest" under law or just a "detainment" with no arrest (or charges of false arrest) consequences.
 
In defense...

My uncle is an ADBA registered breeder of the American Pit-Bull Terrier. He has had well over 300 adult pits, both from champion show dogs, to pullers, to direct descendants of the world champion fighter dogs. NONE.... AND let me repeat NONE of his dogs have EVER gotten violent, or aggressive to humans!

His first pit was purchased in 1983 and I have been around them ever since. I would have NO PROBLEM owning one of his dogs!

There are 2 things that distinguish a dog's behavior.
1. Bad breeding
2. Bad owner

Adam
 
Very good points here.

I love animals, but the word I heard from the Dog Catcher is the dog was going for the officer. So I don't think these people should have anything to say about the dog dying. That was my original point.

As far as the warrant; I have read great detail on the mess with Randy Weaver and allot on Waco. It disturbs me terribly what the authorities did in those situations (2 sold sawed off shotguns at Ruby, and apparent machine guns at Waco). However, if someone points a gun at my daughter and threatens her, the authorities better go to this person's home immediately for an arrest. But as Lens basically said, I am sure there is more to the story then to draw a conclusion.
 
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Milsurps, that argument path is often used against
ownership of "military-style" firearms. I hate seeing
it used by one of us.

Also, I wonder what would have happened if someone from the
police force was shot in the encounter? What do you think
*you* would do if at 2:30am your dog went crazy, someone was screaming
through the front door and then smashed it in? First thing you see
is a big man (armor) in a black suit carrying a gun.... Sounds like a
recipe for disaster.

F
 
Firtree..... My wife's Pug would bark like crazy and hide behind my heels.[laugh]

All joking aside, i'm sure a pitbull is high in the majority of dogs invloved in police encounters everywhere. Drug dealers use them as disposable guards. None of us here can honestly say what we'd do in that kind of situation unless its actually happened to us. I'm pretty sure the norm for most police is to take out the dog if considered a threat and like said, we'll probably never know the whole story of what really happend, just what the media tells us.
Myself I live in a city where punk kids and thugs have pitbulls for the sole reason of a means of comitting violence. I see it all the time wether it be children mauled by uncontrollable pits on the street, or police dealing with them on a regular basis during raids and drug busts. I know it falls into the whole One bad apple spoils the whole bunch, but thats just the way it is where I live.
As for the argument being used against ownership of military style firearms, I think thats an unfair comparrison since the number of incidents involving pitbull attacks outweighs the number comitted by someone with a military firearm.
 
Banning pits because the ghetto kids have them would be like banning Glocks. most of the bad press over pitbulls has to do with misidentification of breeds. Any mutt with a short coat and a wide head is labeled a "pit".

If you were to line up a Presa Canario, American Bulldog. American Staffordshire Terrier, Staffordshire Terrier, American Pitbull Terrier and a Dogo Argentino and ask the average person of the street which was a pitbull most (about 77%) would get it wrong on the first try. This isn't my opinion, this was cited from a poll conducted by the ASPCA.

I'm biased because I own a pit, but to me a lot of the anti-pitbull talk sounds EXACTLY like the anti-gun speeches.
 
Milsurps,
I have worked/owned many different large breeds, & the pit bull is no different than other large dogs. Many more retreivers, dalmatians, & other common "family" dogs, have higher bite frequency than pit bulls. As with any dog, the training & upbringing is important. Also, please don't leave a small children alone with any dog.
Idiots will always get tough looking dogs & make them mean, as they will always find ways to get weapons, & use them in the commission of crimes. You can't ban them all, just because you don't like the abuses of the few.
 
You guys are missunderstanding me. Never did I say the breed should be banned or people shouldn't own one. I'm saying its the people that get an inbred mut and wonder why the dog snaps and goes berserk one day or the ones that get a pitbull and use it as a means of violence and don't take the time to train it that are causing problems. This is the crap that goes on where I live. It might be diferent in your neck of the woods.
Its not the dogs fault, its the dumbass owners that are taking the animal for granted and cry foul when the dog is shot by police or forced to be put down after attacking a resident. If some of you folks have well behaved pitbulls that are good family pets and you can control em, fine. More power to ya, may they live long lives, be great pets, and give you years of companionship.
But for Joe thug/punk kid who thinks hes tough because hes got a pitbull and treats the dog like shit, or the crack dealer who uses two of em to keep the cops away from his apartment, no sympathy for the owner from me when someone puts the dog down because it attacked police or some passerby.
 
DevilMan said:
after reading milsurps reply i have to agree. when can we vote to outlaw stupid people?
We've always had that ability. The problem is, we elect them to represent us!
 
I have to say, ANY dog who DIDN'T bark like crazy if someone busted down the door at 02:30 is probably either stuffed or a Basenji!

I foresee a BIG lawsuit against the PD in question, and I'm sure that questions are going to be asked about who the HELL issued a no-knock warrant. I think that a no-knock warrant was more than a little bit of overkill in this situation. Of course, this is all Morning QB'ing here, as I wasn't there.

If they knew it was there and thought it was aggressive, why couldn't they bring some non-lethal means of disabling it? Sounds like someone's covering someone's ass here.
 
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