Dog dies because of traffic stop........

Kokamo · #1 08-21-2008, 10:39 PM

This happened in my local area a few weeks ago........

Watch the video and tell me what you guys think. I know what I think, but i will post my opinion later on.

http://www.kvue.com/news/top/stories....1d13b0f8.html

Quote:

San Marcos mayor: 'Situation not handled very well'

Mayor Susan Narvaiz says reprimand appropriate, death threats to officer wrong

06:25 PM CDT on Thursday, August 21, 2008

KVUE.com

SAN MARCOS, Texas -- San Marcos Mayor Susan Narvaiz confronted the public Thursday afternoon to address the storm of controversy surrounding an officer who stopped a car on its way to an emergency veterinary clinic. The couple claims their dog died as a result of the traffic stop.

San Marcos mayor: Officer has received death threats

Narvaiz says the city and San Marcos Police Department have received thousands of emails from across the country about the August 5th traffic stop Officer Paul Stephens made when he saw a vehicle driving erratically at speeds up to 95 miles an hour on Interstate 35.

Michael Gonzalez and girlfriend Krystal Hernandez said they were driving to a New Braunfels emergency animal clinic to save their teacup poodle, Missy. Officials said Gonzalez was pulled over, and then asked to pull off a bridge to a safer location. That's when he sped away.

Stephens pulled the car over again -- two miles away -- and told the driver to step out. When Gonzalez got out of the car, officials say he raised his hands and yelled, “she’s dead, she’s dead.”

Narvaiz admitted that the officer made an inappropriate comment to the couple after they explained the situation and pleaded with him to continue on their way. Hernandez said Stephens responded: "Chill out, it's just a dog, you can buy another one."

Also Online
Couple says dog died while they were kept waiting for ticket (08/14)

Video: San Marcos police officer reprimanded (08/14)
Stephens was reprimanded after an internal police investigation.

"We do not condone what the officer said. It was inappropriate and insensitive," Narvaiz stated in a release. "I believe the corrective action that has taken place was appropriate. I am here today to express our support for the San Marcos Police Department and our police officers."

Narvaiz said Police Chief Howard Williams issued a letter of apology to Gonzales and admitted the "situation was not handled very well." The mayor also said the story has led to death threats against the officer and called them "inappropriate and extremely unfortunate."

"We acknowledge the high emotion and concern that has prompted thousands of emails to be sent to our Police Department and to the City of San Marcos," she said. "I want to express our regret for this incident and trust we can use it to improve our service to our community. This is a sad situation for all concerned."

jrode · #2 08-21-2008, 11:16 PM

man thats a tuff spot for the cop to be put in to begin with. to start he has no idea what is going on in that car or what kind of person is in there. all he was doing was his job when he seen a car speeding and driving recklessly on the road.

had the guy in the car pulled right over and told the cop what was going, on it might have been a different story, who knows that same cop may have escorted him to the vet. but when he took off and the cop didnt know what was going on it gave him no choice but to be more defensive towards the driver.

No he should have said the things that he did cause to many of us we consider are pets as part of the family and would do anything to try and protect and save if would have been us.

We will never know what would have happened if they would have just took a couple of secs. to try and stop and tell him what was going on in the first place.

blkpitbull · #3 08-21-2008, 11:30 PM

I agree with J. Just take the time to pull over and quickly explain whats going on and it might have been different!! who knows!!

Kokamo · #4 08-21-2008, 11:35 PM

100% agree. My exact thoughts.

I think the cop did an excellent job. Yeah your right, the cop said too much. Other than that, I think he did a good job. The reason it got out of hand for the driver was because he took off when he was directed by a police official to stop. That's one thing that will make an officer not put up with any excuse.

Besides, I wonder how long it was before the dog died? I would be estimating the time of death with the distance from the animal clinic. Just to get an idea if the police stop was really the cause. I mean, if the dog died in say...5 minutes, and it would take 15 minutes to get to the clinic, it would not have mattered anyway.

Joe

eyeofthestorm · #5 08-22-2008, 01:17 AM

people are so friggin sensitive about their pets though, i mean i know people love their dogs and cats and god knows i love the hell out of my critters... but really. like 95mph and driving like an insane person, putting peoples lives at risk, over a dog who died and probably wouldnt have made it to the vet, its easy for these people to say the officer 'caused the death' but really what was the vet going to do? they can only do so much, and if the dog was old, or extremely sick and it died on the way to the hospital, that fifteen minutes of delay time with the cops didnt make or break the situation, the dog was toast.

i hate to be insensitive but i gotta go with the cop on this one... use your brains people.

philthy phil · #6 08-23-2008, 01:06 AM

passenger shouldn't have jumped out like a maniac. He should have pulled over quickly stayed in his car and then when the cop said what the fuck is up, he should have begged for an escort. LEt's face it the dog was gonna die no matter what they should have tried to trach him with a bic pen. If the dog didn't die he would have gotten about 5 felony charges, so it turned out fair...imo