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#21
post #16

Why is this on HN and getting up-voted?

OP probably had HN and reddit open in separate tabs, just got mixed up.

What! How is this not related to HN? A lot of people here are from CA and would want to be aware of these incidents. HN guidelines clearly state that if it interests people then it is alright. And since it is clearly on top of the page, it interests a lot of people.

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#22
post #4

So many questions! Why would they think it was alright to cuff the videographer? Why wouldn't they expect a dog to attempt to protect his owner? If they had successfully cuffed the gentleman and taken him away in the squad car, would they have left the dog in a hot car (a crime here in Pennsylvania)? Why weren't the other people taking videos also arrested? I hope some of these police officers lose their jobs, but ap…

Yes, that is sad and it makes me angry too but it's hardly relevant for HN, is it?

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#23
post #18

This story/video needs a warning. Warning: there is a graphic disgusting killing of an animal in the video.

Sorry, but what did you expect?

  California Police Arrest Man for Video Recording, then Kill his Dog
That seems pretty clear to me.

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#24

Why is this on HN and getting up-voted?

The questions surrounding citizen surveillance of police activity definitely have relevance on HN, the technology and software created by our industry have facilitated this on a wide scale.

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#25
post #8

Why are guns even used on dogs? Shouldn't there be a way to sedate aggressive dogs? I just don't understand. Getting shot by a gun as a human or dog is almost always going to be fatal.

Dart guns are finicky, short-ranged, and require special training to use properly. Darts are manually loaded with the dosage before each shot, they aren't stored ready to use. They also take minutes to work if the dart hits in the correct muscle. A hit to the head or shoulder blade will just break the needle and piss off the dog.

A dart gun is useless for stopping animals that are attacking. That's why there is always someone with a shotgun ready to kill the animal that's being darted.

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#26
post #8

Why are guns even used on dogs? Shouldn't there be a way to sedate aggressive dogs? I just don't understand. Getting shot by a gun as a human or dog is almost always going to be fatal.

Sedation is not realistic, usually only animal control officers have them and even then they usually don't have it with them.

BUT... Every officer near where I live carries a nightclub/billy stick/baton etc. I've been in situation with aggressive dogs out in the country and often a simple kick is enough to back them off... Discharging a firearm at a fast moving animal is reckless and begging for a bystander to be injured.

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#27

Why is this on HN and getting up-voted?

reddit effect. All snowden and such anti-govt stories are being heavily moderated out in reddit so that crowd is flowing in here. This site has completely changed character (in a very negative way) in the past month. So sad and frustrating.

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#28
I've seen quite a few stories where the police arrest people for photographing them. There really should be an non profit dedicated towards litigating these abuses of power. Its not like photographing the police in public is a legal grey area, so the proceeds from the inevitable settlements could even make the effort self funding.

The dog angle just makes this a particularly egregious abuse of power. I'd be willing to fork over a significant bit of money towards making a very public example of the officers involved.

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#29
Are we really surprised by this? Think about your own experience in highschool and the type of people from that experience who are now in law enforcement? Any correlation between bullies and law enforcers?

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#30

Unless you have a real emergency and need assistance, it's best to avoid the police whenever possible, even if you've done nothing wrong. Local police forces have many officers that are poorly trained and believe that they have plenary power or act as if they do in any situation. Of course, this isn't true about all local police officers, but if you don't know which officers are the good ones, you should just avoid a…

Probably good advice in general, but when you post a comment like this (or upvote it) on a story about police abuse, it comes off like blaming the victim. The man in this video did nothing wrong and now his dog is dead.

*edit: I should note that he was performing a valuable civic service by documenting the actions of the officers (as were the people in the car recording this video). We wouldn't be able to have these discussions without people brave enough to record our public servants' (mis)behavior.

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