Bad Cop: Shooting "the perfect dog"

From the press accounts I've read recently about Officer Michael Cruse of Topeka, Kansas he sounds like a real bull in a china shop kind of guy.

In March 2001 he was injured in an accident with his patrol car that also injured four other people.

In April 2002 he was responding to a burglar alarm when he raced through a stop sign, smashed into a pickup truck, and killed 61-year-old Leonard Porter. Cruse was sentenced to one year in jail for involuntary manslaughter but served only 30 days.

While he was still on probation for this killing Cruse was rehired by the Topeka Police Department in 2003.

Officer Cruse got back into the news on July 13, 2015 when he responded to another burglar alarm, this time at the home of retired Shawnee County District Judge Jim Macnish, his wife Harriet, and their dog Josie.

Josie was a 26-pound miniature Pinscher-boxer mix who had lived with the Macnishes for six years. Harriette called Josie "the perfect dog" and said "she was wonderful, and she loved us."

Cruse went into the backyard to look for signs of a break in and Josie, as good dogs do, came running and barking toward the uniformed intruder who proceeded to shoot her dead.

***

[This looks like a book I will enjoy reading. If you beat me to it please send me a review I can publish here at Anything Smart.

If you want to support "Anything Smart" just click on book links like the one below to buy your books. "Anything Smart" will receive a commission. Thanks!]

***

According to Cruse he had been in danger and needed to defend himself. “I attempted to place time and distance between the dog and myself by running backwards. The dog continued to aggressively run toward me to attack…I…shot the dog 2 times effectively ending the imminent attack”

A heart-broken Harriette held her lifeless pet in her arms for half an hour. Acording to one account Harriette wonders how often Topeka police officers shoot pets and why Cruse is still on the force after his involvement in a vehicular homicide. These are good questions.

As one commentator wrote: "How is it that postal workers, delivery drivers, and door to door salesmen can fend off dogs on a daily basis without killing them but police officers cannot?" More good questions.

I am sure there are thousands of times a day when a little dog runs toward someone barking. The vast majority of the time this happens people hold out their hands and speak to the dog and everything turns out fine.

We need more cops who show restraint and try to defuse situations. We need to get rid of cops whose first instinct is to kill.

Cruse has been involved in at least three incidents now where people or a little dog were injured or killed. That seems like enough evidence to conclude he is a bad cop and needs to find a new line of work.

Check out the links below for more details on this sad incident.

1. http://www.dogingtonpost.com/police-officers-kills-26-pound-miniature-pinscher-mix-in-backyard-shooting/
2. http://www.wibw.com/home/headlines/TPD-claims-shooting-former-Judges-dog-was-justified-320591252.html
3. http://cjonline.com/news/2015-08-03/topeka-police-officer-fatally-shoots-retired-judges-dog-his-backyard?page=2 (This link includes a graphic video of the shooting.)
4. http://www.punkrocklibertarians.com/body-cam-shows-cop-backyard-shoot-kill-familys-small-dog/ (This link includes a graphic video of the shooting.)
5. http://www.dogingtonpost.com/police-officers-kills-26-pound-miniature-pinscher-mix-in-backyard-shooting/
6. http://www.copblock.org/134806/topeka-cop-kills-again/

Copyright © 2017 by Joseph Wayne Gadway