A Texas man claims that his beloved dog Cisco was shot point blank by a police officer who responded to a call at the wrong address.
Michael Paxton, 40, said he and his Australian cattle dog Cisco were relaxing and playing Frisbee in his Austin backyard on Saturday afternoon when he decided to go get something from his truck in the driveway.
As he approached his truck, he said he saw something from the corner of his eye and looked up to see a police officer who immediately drew his weapon and told Paxton to put his hands up.
“He had a Taser. He had pepper spray. I don’t understand why, in broad daylight, he pulled a gun on me. I wasn’t running. I wasn’t hiding,” Paxton told ABCNews.com today. “I was just saying, ‘I live here.’ I was panicking. I was afraid for my life.”
Paxton said he heard Cisco, who weighed about 50 pounds, barking and coming towards him from the backyard.
“I said, ‘Don’t shoot him. Don’t shoot my dog. He won’t bite you.’ But he shot him, just like that. It all happened in under 30 seconds,” Paxton said. “There was no attack on the officer other than barking and challenging him.”
Austin Police Cpl. Anthony Hipolito told ABCNews. com that the officer did respond to the wrong address, but it was the address provided by the 911 call. The call came from the house next to Paxton’s.
Hipolito said that dashcam footage shows the dog barking and attacking the officer.
“The officer was basically in retreat and asked the owner to grab the dog,” Hipolito said. “He was unable to and the dog continued to attack and that’s when the officer discharged his firearm.”
That's tragic. I would have gotten myself shot or arrested.
Oh good … the strongman is back saying he would've done things differently. Yay for lack of logic yet again. Mr. Paxton was not a free agent in this instance, and therefore could not act in any sort of way other than how he did. The police officer was the only free agent in this situation, and if he could've responded differently is therefore morally (and legally I might add) responsible. The simple of act you getting shot or arrested would not have changed the fact that the dog would have died, it simply would've meant another decision to act by the only free agent in the situation; Cpl. Hipolito in this situation. This is indeed a tragic situation, and I think that any of us that have (or have had) pets can at least make an attempt to put ourselves into the shoes of Mr. Paxton. However, saying that you would've acted differently serves only to put the blame onto Mr. Paxton by suggesting that there could've been an alternate course of action available to him that could've potentially saved the life of Cisco.