Demarkus PeeplesAround noon on Tuesday, Dec. 2, [Demarkus] Peeples was watching TV at home when he heard a knock at the front door. When he looked out the door’s top window, he saw a group of men standing on his porch wearing jeans and T-shirts, a couple of them looking a little ratty. To get a better look, he went to a side window and peeked through the drawn blinds. “Honestly, they looked like they were transients,” he said. The men, it ends up, were undercover narcotics officers who were there on a complaint about drug activity at that address—Peeples was later told that it had to do with a “chemical smell.” Peeples said the men—he estimates there were six—never announced who they were.
Peeples waited until they circled back to the front of his house, at which point he opened his back door to investigate. That’s when his dog, a three-year-old Staffy named Eygpt ran out. Normally, that wouldn’t be a problem, except that one of the police officers had left the backyard gate open. The dog ran out, and down Peeple’s driveway toward the officers, at which point they shot it three times. Even the police concede the dog never attacked. It only gets worse from there. The police then arrested Peeples on the charge of assault with a deadly weapon—the weapon being his now dying dog. Peeples says they then euthanized his dog, despite his explicit instructions not to.
“Do not kill my dog; do everything you can to save my dog,” he remembers yelling. When he saw Chris Victor, his neighbor, he asked him to make sure Egypt was kept alive. Victor said he called animal control to let them know he’d cover any cost for Egypt’s care, but by the time his call got through, Egypt had been euthanized. DeSousa said the dog was put down immediately after arriving. The police didn’t find the meth lab they were presumably looking for. They did apparently find a misdemeanor amount of marijuana in Peeple’s garage—marijuana that, according to the article, was “so old that it disintegrated upon contact.”
Maybe when the city gets tired of lawsuits, this crap will end.
Thanks to Mister Justin
Really??? WOW! Where was this?
San Diego? What did they expect the dog to do?
Ummm,
Wondering around the HOUSe they couldnt NOT smell the meth?? that strange SMELL that was reported??
ALSO,
after a search like this…Have you seen the MESS the cops have made?? and GUESS who gets to clean it up..
The DOG?? SUE..Unjustifiable Homicide..
Cops, they are ALL bad apples.
NOT ALL, I really do not want to defend BAD apples. Not all are bad.
Oh some heads would be f’n rolling if some cops did that at my house. I hope Mr. Peeples gets an outstanding lawyer and those idiot cops lose their jobs.
The cops are idiots and cowards and most likely pumped-up on ‘roids. They will be exonerated after a “through” (wink-wink) investigation. Cops don’t do time, no matter what the crime.
#3 that’s right, every last cop is bad. They serve no purpose at all, and should be gotten rid of. I wonder who would protect your neo-lib ass when the cops are no longer around.
But seriously, as most of you know I will give the cops the benefit of the doubt in 99.9% of circumstances. I do not believe that cops are out their to screw people, but are doing a difficult job, and most do a pretty good job.
But if the cops were on this mans property peeking through windows and stuff like that, without a warrant, then they should lose their job, and the county should have to pay the man for the loss of his dog.
This is crazy! I’ve met a few cops and even worked with a couple….most of them are good people. Then there are jackasses like these that think that because they are cops, they are doing God’s will or some bullshit. Losing only their jobs should be a gift. You can bet if it had been my dog I would see each one of them, their superiors, and a representative of the department itself in court.
Sorry, but the cops did nothing wrong here. All you authority haters can take a walk.
It’s funny how cops can’t seem to police themselves. The police (local, state and federal) need REAL oversight from people that AREN’T law enforcement and aren’t beholden to law enforcement.
@7 – Bob
When was the last time you saw a cop actually protect someone? DUI check points don’t count. Most of the time they are just janitors (accident cleanup, crime scene cleanup) with guns.
#9. You are an idiot, always were, always will be.
“Sorry, but the cops did nothing wrong here”
Until it happens to you.
“I do not believe that cops are out their to screw people, but are doing a difficult job, and most do a pretty good job.”
You know, statistically speaking, you might be right. But when you get down to the nitty gritty, this sort of shit happens far more often than not. I’ve actually read police reports with the words “the suspect moved in such a way as to force contact between my closed fist and his face” and then charging the guy with ABPO. While most police officers may well be decent enough individuals (and undoubtedly their jobs are hard), the fact of the matter is the bad cops just put the rotten stink to all of them.
“Sorry, but the cops did nothing wrong here. All you authority haters can take a walk.”
I sure do hope there’s sarcasm here, although I’m not detecting any. I could maybe see this being a(n ignorant, if) justifiable stance if they *had* found the “meth lab” they were “looking for”. But they rolled up, illegally, upon this man’s property, and shot his dog dead when the dog did… nothing!
And what’s going to be the end of the story? Nothing. Mr. Peeples probably doesn’t have the money it’ll take to take this to trial, nor the will power necessary to refuse to take the settlement offer the city will invariably throw his way.
Judges and governments protect the “boys in blue” far too much. An insular agency is a dangerous agency, especially one that’s meant to be protecting the people.
Staffy as in Staffordshire Bull Terrier as in “Pit Bull” as in Meth Lab Guard Dog? But yea, my dog would run out the gate every chance he got, attack any other dog/cat/squirrel/turkey/racoon he could find. Never aggressive with people but if he had ever been shot when “out” I would have had to accept it.
Why would cops ever “knock” and not say “We’re Cops Serving a Warrant?”
Seems like a lot is left out.
http://images.google.com/images?q=Staffordshire%20Bull%20Terrier&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
Fascists read DU?
I’m shocked. SHOCKED, I tell you.
#9 – Quacklia
You are an idiot, always were, always will be.
RTFA, why don’t you. The dog never attacked anybody. The kid never had any meth. If you RT original FA, you’ll see that cop-on-dog crime is running rampant in the streets. And read the comments below it, and you’ll find one that pretty much sums up the situation:
“Goddamn, mother fucking, incompetent, arrogant, jack-booted, pants wetting pussies.”
Well, personally, if I had to serve a warrant on someone named Demarkus Peeples, I have to take 15 minutes to stop laughing first.
But seriously, there are good cops and bad cops. Unfortunately, the bad cops, even if they are the minority, often rule the roost, and the good cops can’t do much about it. Even in departments where fairly decent management has been installed (LAPD), the existing culture is extremely hard to overcome.
In this case though, the jury, once IT stops laughing, will probably side with Demarkus Peeples. Fortunately, juries, in my experience, don’t have much time for bad cops.
#9 – Quacklia
Your an idiot!
WTF, they could have just sent him a notice that he won a flat screen TV and had him show up for the arrest. Knee grows be loving them big TVs.
#9 is an idiot. Ignore/Ignored.
I had my share of bad cops. Even had a neighbor cop threatening that he will be watching my every move because he thought I had sped 50mph from 0-50yards and be able to stop on a penny without any screech noise. This was a young cop, just married it had seem. Family just moved countryside where Asians apparently weren’t so common. I so wanted to catch this guy on tape but determined it wasn’t worth my time with this racist.
To those of you who say the police did nothing wrong…
The Constitution requires service of a properly executed warrant, supported by oath of specific wrongdoing to enter a property.
They can also enter in pursuit of a criminal or in direct view of a crime.
There doesn’t appear to be any of these here.
The fact that so many police have now served in combat zones as National Guard troops won’t help this situation at all. More and more, they will look upon the public as “the enemy” and as an “us vs. them” situation to be resolved with force at all times.
If you don’t like the rise of a separate, privileged political class,
Then stop supporting it.
Hold political employees and government workers to the law, people, the same laws they hold citizens to.
It’s up to us to WANT freedom and justice. Nobody can do that except us.
RTFA – They didn’t break down his door, the knocked. The guy peeked out the window several time (suspicious), then opened the door and a dog ran out and toward the police. Drug dealers often use dogs as weapons and since that’s what they were investigating, they figured they didn’t want the dog to take a bite of them. Its really funny reading all your liberal tossers comments. I can almost bet that most of you either use recreation drugs or feel they should be legal. That being the case you guys are nothing but over grown hippies or modern day stoners.
Old marijuana? So he was an old bad guy. Someday I hope I too can choose which laws I feel like obeying.
RBG
“RTFA – They didn’t break down his door, the knocked. The guy peeked out the window several time (suspicious), then opened the door and a dog ran out and toward the police. Drug dealers often use dogs as weapons and since that’s what they were investigating, they figured they didn’t want the dog to take a bite of them.”
So, guilty until proven innocent. I like the turn in the US. Is that an example why he rest of the world hates your freedoms? Aside from your slanting of the details, well done. You are a true state hero.
#25 – Reb Blue Green
>>Someday I hope I too can choose which laws I
>>feel like obeying.
Someday I hope we have laws worth obeying.
#23, gq,
They didn’t break down his door, the knocked.
OK, they were polite. Did they have a warrant?
The guy peeked out the window several time (suspicious), then opened the door and a dog ran out and toward the police.
Only you missed that part where they were in his back yard and he went out the back door. In normal cases the back gate was left closed and locked BUT the cops didn’t close it. Then what is suspicious about checking to see is knocking? There is no requirement that anyone open a door to strangers. Gee, the police even advise against it.
Drug dealers often use dogs as weapons and since that’s what they were investigating, they figured they didn’t want the dog to take a bite of them.
So they weren’t there with a warrant. So why were they on his property? Nope, you can’t get out of this one. They were criminally trespassing !!! The dog was still on its own property.
Its really funny reading all your liberal tossers comments. I can almost bet that most of you either use recreation drugs or feel they should be legal.
It is much better than reading some fascist assholes idea of a perfect world. My attitude on illegal drugs have nothing to do with some cops trespassing, killing a dog, and arresting an obvious innocent person. That you can even think of justifying this shows your mental condition and serious need for psychiatric intervention.
That being the case you guys are nothing but over grown hippies or modern day stoners.
At least hippies and stoners don’t go around shooting innocent dogs and arresting innocent people.
It has often been used as an excuse, but is anyone really aware of a cop who has put his life on the line for the people?
No warrent? Not sure.
In several regards this was clearly handled badly. I’m not saying anyone should be fired but it does need to be noted so if someone keeps on having bad days they can be encouraged to find work more suited to their abilities.
On the other hand everybody posting here is going to call the cops if they get robbed or whatever.
The story implied but did not state that the weed may have been around a lot longer than this person had lived there. You can run into the same problem with a car.
A simple drug test can determine if you have been using.