by digby
A police officer was accused of inappropriate behavior after his misconduct may have resulted in a dog’s death, ABC News reported. Officer Paul Stephens pulled over Michael Gonzalez for speeding at 100 miles an hour down an interstate highway, prompting the driver to get out of the car, saying, “He’s dying.” Gonzales and his girlfriend Krystal Hernandez explained that they were speeding to reach a veterinary clinic because their pet poodle Missy was choking. The dashboard camera of the police car shows Officer Stephens yelling and criticizing the couple for putting other people’s lives at risk for a dog. “You’re driving down the highway at 100 per hour,” he said. “It’s a dog, it’s OK. You can get another one. Relax.” Stephens kept Gonzalez on the roadside for 15 minutes. The dog died as the couple waited for Stephens to issue a citation. The couple tried to convince the officers several different ways to allow them to save their pet, KWTX Channel 10 News reported. Gonzalez and Hernandez said they begged Stephens to let them go to the vet and turn themselves in for the speeding ticket later. Gonzalez also offered to stay behind with the officer while Hernandez took the dog to the vet. But Stephens ignored their pleas. Police supervisors called the incident a “rookie mistake” and did not find Stephens guilty of any misconduct.
The man is obviously unsuited to be a police officer. Even the police chief admitted that it was “not our finest hour. “
It’s not that he was wrong to pull the people over for speeding. It was that he showed no human compassion or common sense once he found out the reason. Police that have that kind of tunnel vision can’t be effective in their jobs which require many decisions each day that impact the safety and the liberty of the citizens they serve. If something this basic was too much for the man to0 understand, then he can’t be trusted with a gun (o0r a taser) in far more complicated situations.
I understand that cops have a tough job and that it’s not always easy to make the right decision under stress. That makes it more imperative that when a cop makes a decision like this under an unstressful situation that it be seen as an important insight into his temperament and judgment. One hopes that at the very least they demanded that he get further training and evaluation before putting him back on the job. There’s obviously something wrong with him.
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