Stage 7

Trigger happy Texas cops??

     Sometimes you hear stories of a cop using lethal force to protect him or herself, but are they happening too often now?  Is the police officer doing everything they can before they use their weapon?  There has recently been the case of an Austin dog owner losing his pet because of a police officer and now a 14 year-old boy was shot in the Houston area.
 
     Cisco was a blue heeler owned by an Austin native, the dogs' life was taken by a police officer.  The cop was reporting to what he thought was a domestic disturbance, but the address he received was incorrect.  When he arrived to the WRONG address the dog ran towards the officer like a lot of normal excited dogs.  The firearm was drawn and fired, instantly killing the dog.    

     The most recent story out of Austin Statesman took place in Pasadena, which is in the Houston area, where a 14 year-old boy was shot.  There was apparently a burglary that took place at the Pasadena school and when the police officer responded he shot the boy in the chest.  The officer said he thought the boy was reaching for a weapon and said he was unaware that the suspect was so young.  The young man is currently at a Houston hospital and it is projected that he will live, but the question of why the officer thought he had no other option that to discharge his weapon. 

     These two cases are clearly a shortened version just to get the main point across that the guns are being fired with lack of responsibility.  I understand that these cases are pretty rare but are rapidly becoming more common.  These officers have pepper spray and taser guns which are non lethal options that should have been considered instead of pulling their gun so quickly.  What do we do to fix this??  In my opinion, our officers clearly need extensive training in high stress situations.  I am sure with all the crazy things that happen to the boys in blue that they do get nervous in some situations and I am sympathetic about that but something has to happen to stop the killing and wounding of innocent people and/or animals.