Apologies for slight thread hijack...
Shooting a charging rottweiler, people can tolerate...but shooting a tied-up golden retreiver is beyond the pale. This officer escaped serious consequences for so doing. However, under the spotlight, he showed his true nature, and "what goes around comes around", so to speak. Makes for sweet irony, and a clever headline, though.
ARMED AND DANGEROUS
Cop who shot dog fired for 'shooting bird'
Officer booted for extending middle finger to TV cameras
Posted: July 1, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com
An Oklahoma police officer who shot a family dog has been fired for allegedly "shooting the bird" on television.
Officer Cory Forister fired for obscene gesture (KTUL-TV)
Bixby, Okla., Police Chief Anthony Stephens decided to fire Cory Forister after Tulsa TV stations aired video of the officer making an obscene gesture to camera crews.
Reporters were covering a canine-aggression class Forister was ordered to attend following his shooting of a golden retriever during a burglary investigation earlier this month. The dog, named Fluppy, had to be euthanized.
According to KOTV-TV, station reporter Patrina Adger sought comment from Forister about the case.
Adger: "Officer Forister, do you want to talk about what you're learning from the class?"
Forister: "No, thank you."
Adger: "Are you learning anything from the class?"
Forister: "I just told you, I don't want an interview."
Footage from the meeting showed Forister resting his head in his hand, with his middle finger extended.
The police chief says he was flooded with calls after the gesture was broadcast, and he was forced to let Forister go for conduct unbecoming of a police officer.
"This type of conduct by a police officer cannot, and will not, be tolerated, under any circumstances," Stephens said.
Forister denies
intentionally "flipping off" the reporter.
According to KTUL-TV, the saga began June 5 as Forister was responding to a possible burglary at the home of John and Kathy Benzinger.
Fluppy killed after lunging at officer (KOTV-TV)
He then saw the family pet, which was tied to a cable as it lunged at him.
"I yelled three times at the dog, 'back, back, back,' and I was running backwards as fast as I could," Forister told KTUL.
He says Fluppy was on a long tether and was less than two feet away when he fired three shots.
"It all happened in a matter of about four seconds," Forister told KTUL. "It was instant. When I felt like my life was at risk, my personal safety at risk."
The city investigated the shooting and concluded no criminal charges should be filed against the officer.
"As far as we are concerned, we've conducted an investigation, held a review hearing, issued a finding, and that's the end of it," City Attorney Jim Frasier told the Tulsa World.
The Benzingers have since obtained another golden retriever puppy, as the family children pooled their money to purchase one.
"[Forister] has still refused to call us and issue an apology!" John Benzinger lamented to KOTV, though the police department itself has issued an apology.
He says the family is still considering a civil lawsuit to cover Fluppy's veterinary and cremation bills, reportedly worth over $1,000.
The case has been a hot topic in Oklahoma, sparking plenty of discussion and letters to the editor of the Tulsa World, including one by Tulsa resident James Blazer.
"When a Bixby police officer, one Cory Forister, shoots a golden retriever because it comes too close, then I would not want him to even have access to a gun, much less be authorized to use it," Blazer wrote.
"The dog killed in Bixby was tethered and could not reach him and, more important, it was a golden retriever, which is just about as dangerous as a 2-month-old baby."
To my knowledge no trooper has been out my road in the past year, and according to the local sourdoughs no LEO of any kind has *ever* been back there. In AK once you get off the freeways and out of the cities it's the wild west.
