Man leaps off bridge, taking police dog with him

Source: Associated Press

Man leaps off bridge, taking police dog with him

By The Associated Press

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

CORONADO, Calif. — A man being chased by authorities grabbed a police dog and leaped off the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, taking the animal with him into the ocean water 200 feet below.

The fugitive survived and was in serious condition Tuesday with a collapsed lung, but the fall killed the dog.

The 27-year-old man will be charged with causing the dog's death, driving under the influence and evading police, authorities said.

(snip)

"The dog actually took the driver to the ground and then ... lifted the dog up and jumped over the side," CHP Sgt. Steven Toth said.








Read more: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004103409_pursuit02.html

At least I believe that's how it works in Washington State. If you do something to a police dog it's the same as if you'd done it to a police officer. He'll be going to jail for a VERY long time. I'm troubled that I didn't see any such language in the article though...

I would imagine that at the point the dog had his/her teeth sunk into the guy's flesh that the perp's instinct for survival took over and saw the water as a way of getting the dog off.

Work dogs are great when they are working withing their element. Humans are not the element any dog should be trained to control.

Fault is the cops that sic'd the dog.

is treated as no different than killing a cop in a lot of states.

because the intent of cop-killer penalties is not to value the life of the human killed. It is because the criminal act was directed against the law enforcement.

Still stupid.

.

of water that would relieve the situation. Are you going to stop and think about where the animal came from or are your self preservation instincts going to tell you to jump into the water and stop the gnawing teeth?

Why are you asking me?

It still police personnel if ts a dog...dude has fucked himself.

It should be common knowledge that police are not always there to protect or serve you. Something different entirely in this case, sure, as the guy was a drunken fool..

ripped anyone's arm off. They are not "wild animals" they are highly trained domesticated dogs. The dogs are trained to bite the arms and legs and do not inflict lethal wounds...I have never heard of a K9 killing anyone. I have heard of drunk fucking morons driving cars killing plenty of people but hey, don't let facts get in the way of your hatred of police. He wasn't trying to get away, he picked up the dog and intentionally jumped over the bridge with it, it wasn't about survial

Do you have any idea how high that bridge is? Or are you just talking out your ass on that one too?

Let me see dog biting my arm, 2o story drop to water and hit it at 70 mph.....hmmm which do I take?

How about not being a waste of space and not drinking and driving and trying to evade the police by putting countless others
at risk and not running from officers when you do get out of the vehicle by parking it on a 200 foot tall bridge?

I hope this guy is fucked physically for life and then gets a good long term in prison for killing an officer (the K9).

munching on your arm or leg, there will be a fear reflex that will override rational thought.

Christ, that's like zapping someone with a taser and being disappointed when they don't immediately be still when you instruct them to even though there's 40,000 volts bouncing around their nervous system.

jumping over the rail but he showed deliberate cruelty by picking up the dog and jumping with him.

would take a dive to get away from the canine's teeth.

I blame the cops for siccing the dog in a situation that could obviously have such a terrible consequence. THEY are the ones who didn't think it through and had other options.

but his fear reflex didn't cause him to drink and drive and evade the police. And the alcohol must have been strong to negate the fear reflex involved in jumping off a bridge with a 200 foot drop... (I suspect that he was trying to get away more than feeling reflexively fearful. Just a hunch, though, of course, I have no proof. It's all conjecture.)

And I do feel sorry for the dog, who was just doing his job.

That's a Belgian Malinois. Second, having had a Belgian biting on my finger, I was not overcome by a fear reflex overriding rational thought. I was too busy screaming in pain. So, for this drunk guy to pick up a 60 pound dog latched onto his arm, carry it to the side of the bridge, and jump over, I cannot believe it was fear motivating him. It was alcohol.

Meh. Doesn't work. Almost, but not quite.

it is not stupid... the Oceanside PD has five K-9 units, and they are short one dog. They will not be able to replace the dog for a while

The costs associated with training a police dog are numerous. That is not an investment this law enforcement agency can afford to treat lightly.

And being an animal lover, I hope they throw the book at the guy.

than taking a dog's life. And since we're talking about costs, what about the cost of training a human cop?

If not more. They still have to train the dog 1 on 1, with a trainer that they're paying. When you leverage that against paying a human instructor who is teaching a class of 20 or so, it seems that the K9 units are more costly during the training period.

Then again, after the training period is over, the dogs work much more cheaply.

plus the rest of the grocery list, evasion, DUI, et al.

receives animal cruelty charges and what ever else. I did read where he will be charged with the death.

Even if he's not charged, this guy needs a psych evaluation. Had to have been suicidal--there's no way anyone in their right mind would jump off a bridge and expect to live, unless he missed the episode of mythbusters wherein it was proved that such a thing would rip parts of your body off.

I hate this world ... this year. I hate all the bad people.
It just makes me sick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't know if I know enough about the context. Not saying its wrong to despise a drunk driver who's endangering lives by resisting arrest...

<>

I'm just saying that I'm not so sure sic'ing a dog on him is a really civil course of action in all circumstances.

In the meantime, the dog died doing his job and its sad nonetheless.

There's a pretty big difference here...

One one hand-- civil rights, human rights, marches for justice.

On the other hand-- a drunk driver endangering other drivers through no fault of their own.




Would have been just a valid had you shown a picture of some some inbred red-neck dousing a puppy in gas and lighting it... that is, neither is germane-- but I'm sure it makes for good copy.

poor dog :cry:

and he survived:grr:

with erratic driving eh? Sick a dog right on 'em. Why didn't they just shoot the guy...save the dog?

I'm sorry to hear that. RIP

They should throw him back in head first - at the shallow end...

Fucking pile of human excrement that he is...

vs. idiot who jumps off bridges. Survival of the dumbest in this case.

A cop cousin of mine used to be in the K-9 unit and had one of these dogs. They're wonderful dogs devoted to their handlers. I hope this scum that dragged this dog to its death gets everything coming to him.

so hate the police that they even find fault with a K9 unit doing it's job and trying to catch a criminal who put the lives of people at risk.

Bunch of whiny cop haters who can't wait to jump on the police for doing their job.

How do you find fault with officers trying to catch a drunken driver and using non-lethal force to do it?

I guess you would rather a cop had grabbed this drunk, erratic, idiot who didn't mind putting everyone on the road in mortal danger and killed a cop instead of a dog.

Jesus Christ! Every time a cop does his or her job, some here are lined up to bash them, trash them and pray for their deaths and scream "Is it fascism yet?".

How about all the cop haters have a big hot cop of shut the fuck up or go join the force and see how well they would handle the drunks, crazies and psychopaths out in the real world who really want to hurt people or are so sociopathic that they don't care who they hurt, beat, mutilate or kill.

Thanks for your time.

Which all too many appear to be using to

a: get their jollies off at the expense of someone who doesn't play the authority game well
b: reduce their on-the-job risks to nil.
c: avoid having to judge whether or not someone is enough of a threat to shoot at them

At this point, the driver had given up the chase and had stopped his car, had gotten out. What did turning the dog on him do, that pointing a gun couldn't have?

people who have no idea what police officers go thru and are subjected too, telling them how to do their jobs.

The sweet innocent victim drunk, did not "give up the chase" and try to peacefully give himself up.

The drunk driver hit another vehicle, ran red lights and drove at a high rate of speed in an effort to keep from getting caught. When he stopped on the bridge, he came towards officers and the dog was released. The dog took him to the ground and the turd then picked him up and intentionally jumped over the bridge.

But hey, I am sure you have had countless encounters with out of control drunks and were able to kumbayah them into compliance.

Link to story and video:

http://cbs2.com/local/Coronado.bridge.jump.2.621064.html

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080101-9999-1m1dog.html

What did setting a dog on the guy do that pointing a gun and using their best judgment to asses the threat could not have?

without the use of a 40 cal or 00 buck.

At some point compliance is required. Force is used. Pick your force, taser, mace, shotgun.

You dont get to negotiate your arrest. Drunk moron, should be dead. Cost the taxpayers several thousand dollars.

he hit another vehicle, the chase went on for 50 miles...are you a cop by the way, or do you just play one on the internets? The guy came at the officers after he stopped his vehicle on the bridge after eluding the police for 50 miles at speeds of 50 mph. At that point it would be a felony stop and they would have had guns drawn and aimed at him but you would know that, right? He still came at them and refused to obey their commands, they could have shot him or tazed him and then the real teeth gnashing would begin but they sent the dog to do what it was trained to and he killed it.

I am sure your local pd could use a knowledgeable volunteer like you to come in and show them how things should be done.

If the driver was intent on getting away from the officers, why would he move toward them? Note that no one claimed he was waving a weapon in a threatening manner, as he supposedly walked toward them.

It makes more sense to me that he was moving away from the officers, and instead of chasing the suspect on foot, it was easier to release the dog.

Period.

When people (especially other cops) make excuses for these human pieces of shit who use their authority to bully other people, engage in anti-American, racist bullshit, and shit all over the Constitution in the process, it sure as HELL doesn't help the attitude of the rest of us have about it.

Hurray for good, decent cops.

But FUCK the bad ones.


On edit:

I DO happen to know someone who cheers every time a cop is killed. Makes me queasy, but he considers them no better than nazi stormtroopers and despises them with a fierce passion.

So spare us the hyperbole. People here don't want to see them killed. They want to see them actually pursue justice.

Do you believe that in this case they were, or were not pursuing justice?



And I'll go you one further...
Hurray for good, decent humans--regardless of career. But FUCK the bad ones-- regardless of career.

I'm just sick of reading the kind of crap that suggests that we don't have any right to criticize the police when they DO go outside the bounds.

Did he intend to jump with the dog, to throw the dog off the bridge, or merely away from himself? If he stood up with the dog and stumbled, falling over the side, it wouldn't seem so much an intentional act (although police intervention is a logical conclusion to DUI) as an unfortunate result of an instinctual reaction to being bitten by a dog.

Drunk or not, no reasonable person is going to sit back and relax with several canines sunk into his arm.

continue to bite them.

with a reasonable person here.

to just lay there and let a dog chew on them.

Got it now?

edit spelling

He complied, and the dog would have been called off FAST.

Seen those dogs at work.

There are many myths of how they are trained and how they're used...

By the way... K-9 Dogs are trained to be far less aggressive than Military dogs

It's a tough call lacking a video of the incident itself.

on him, he had one. He was taken to the ground by the dog and then stood up physically picking up the dog and then jumped off
the bridge. Most bridges have rails that keep people from stumbling off them by accident. One report I read said the subject may have been trying to jump off the bridge before the dog was released.

Poor guy attacked for no reason by that mean ol' police dog...gimme a break

a) I disagree with the use of dogs in law enforcement

b) I'd just as soon trust Bush with my own pets than I would trust the cops involved to be telling the truth re: picking up the dog and *jumping* with it rather than *falling* while the dog was attacking him.

Extremely tragic, nonetheless, on all accounts.

let's not trust the evil cop's version of this story, that guy was probably framed and they killed him and then threw the dog in themselves.

Is it some sort of universal law that police officers must always be honest? Didn't think so. I said nothing about the guy being framed.. maybe you meant to respond to someone else's post.

and you know what? From the Local Training Academy most of these cops would not fake a report.

But don't let the truth hit you in the rear.

This guy was drunk, he is in ICU at UCSD Medical Center, and if facing multiple charges

You know perhaps the cops should let all drunks just go along and not stop them. Perhaps the RISE in people killed due to their actions might be better.

:sarcasm:

:eyes:

But hey, you agree with me!
"most of these cops would not fake a report."

And some might? ..Thats all i was saying. :hi:

you and your sergeant are present... even better when your sergeant is NOT present

This one had let me see... how many agencies?

Oceanside PD... where it started. CHP, got on the freeway, San Diego PD... kind of went through their turf, and Coronado PD.

Kind of hard to do that

All I'm saying.

By the way Advocate, what is the motive for all these officers from all these agencies to fake a report?

and they're not happy about it :shrug: I thought it might have been obvious. Not saying they did or didn't, just pointing out the possibility, and that I'm not one to automatically trust what the police are saying.

faking a police report is a felony in California. The kind that you do hard time in jail for.

So once again counselor, why would MANY cops, from at least FOUR agencies, risk jail time?

Already told you why I think there is a possibility that they might not be telling the truth.

Can *you* tell *me* why I *should* trust the police to be honest?
Why exactly would somebody call out a fellow officer for exaggerating in a case like this? I don't think they'd have much to worry about if their story lacked honesty.

the more people you have involved in a conspiracy, the better the chance you have of it falling apart, and somebody speaking out.

Why when you have dirty cops, they do their dirt in the dark... unless you are speaking of a department where there is bad leadership from the top where shit like that is tolerated. And yes, there are departments like that (LAPD, which is under Federal Control), and small departments in the deep south and small mountain towns. But these are mostly large urban police departments. (Except Coronado)

We have four departments here, I know for a fact that SDPD does not tolerate that shit, the same goes for Oceanside (the ones with the best motive),,, and the CHP doesn't either, nor does Coronado. I am lucky, to live in an area of the country where bad cops usually end up in jail.. and trust me... they have. One for murder (A Chippie) and one for getting sexual Favors from female suspects (El Cajon) Oh and I forgot the Chula Vista Officer who stole from the evidence locker. What the three cases had in common is that the three officers acted alone. They were able to avoid suspicion for a little while, thin blue line, but once they were caught, the judges threw books at them... and RIGHTLY SO.

So once again counselor, why would officers from multiple departments engage in a conspiracy and fake MULTIPLE police reports? Oh and remember, there was brass on this one.

to which I have already given an answer.
If you are confident that it is not the case that they exaggerated in this instance, then so be it. No problem here. If you really want to know where I'm coming from, then you may read the responses I have already offered..

In this case... they used their assets correctly... and having been ON THE CORONADO BRIDGE, I know that he leapt, on purpose

you cannot just walk off the bridge.

By the way, the jumper is lucky to be alive... (or perhaps not, once he realizes the seriousness of the charges)... but we have an average of three suicides a year, successful ones, and several attempts, usually those don't jump.

I honestly hope the time never comes where your life depends on one of these officers.

talents.

cop lie eleven times on a police report I was involved in. And the cop somehow "missed" my trial five consecutive times, until we finally talked the judge into dropping the charges against me. It was on totally trumped up bullshit.

I'm not about to insinuate that was the case here, with the drunk driver and the dog, but to make a blanket statement that "you know the departments involved and the training they did, and you know they wouldn't falsify a report" is utterly ridiculous. It happens a lot.

"Is it some sort of universal law that police officers must always be honest?"

I doubt it. Yet when given a choice, I'll usually believe cops over drunks, as I seriously doubt there's a universal law that says drunk drivers evading arrest must always be honest, either.

Last time I checked, humans cant sniff out bombs and drugs. They also can't track the scent of a person.

I'm sure they prove useful in that case.

Other than that, I stand by what I said..

in all cases. Hmm, so when we have an INCREASE in deadly force what will be the screaming on the internets?

black and white, yep, describes your position to the T.

I'd rather have my cops have access to tools that allow them to escalate force, and not go from verbal to firearms, with nothing in between.

They need that flexibility. Been in the streets working side by side with them... I know how much they need that flexibility.

why you think I see things in black and white.
I simply disagree with the use of dogs in law enforcement in most cases. I recognize the fact that they may prove to be beneficial at times. As I already said. What are you even arguing..?

mongo know police, mongo like police, grunt!!!

I know bad cops, and people who have been railroaded by the system

I also know some really bad people who have done some really hard time.

Some of whom actually deserve it.

Whether they wear blue or are on the other side does not matter

If a cop gets sexual favors from female suspects to be let go (real case) he deserves to have the book thrown at him.. and the same goes for the CHP officer who murdered a 19 year old. I think he is on dead row, but don't quote on it, and my only problem is that he is on dead row since I don't believe in the death penalty

On the other hand, if somebody rapes a woman (or a man) and they happen NOT to wear blue, they also deserve to do hard time

And if they happen to murder somebody else, again they deserve the time

Clear enough for you?

But some folks have a knee jerk reaction here... does not matter what the cops do, or don't do, they are always bad...

Oh and here is another one. Even though I suspect there is a camera footage somewhere from this case... and incidentally not from one of the departments involved... this man, who is in ICU is STILL INNOCENT UNTIL HE IS FOUND GUILTY by a court of law and a jury of his peers.

That is far more than you are willing to give the cops.

What's the precise and relevant reason(s) you believe dogs should not be used as additional tools of law enforcement?

:shrug:

I wish the dog had been the one to survive. :-(

Don't fuck with police animals.

The K-9 cops I've met are totally devoted to their dogs and would treat an attack on a police dog as an attack on a human partner. The mounted cops regard their horses the same way.

I once saw a mountie directing traffic in NYC during the Christmas season. Some fool, trying to get into a gridlocked intersection, actually drove his car into the police horse, pushing the hood of the car under the unfortunate animal's belly--actually lifting it off the ground at one point. Any other horse would have flown into a panic but this four footed officer stood his ground and kept prevented the car from moving while his human partner jumped out of the saddle, threw open the driver's side door and proceded to haul the guy out of the car (after bashing his head against the door a few times) and slapped on the cuffs. "You motherfucker, nobody hurts my horse!"

To the cop's credit he rejected the offer of several animal-loving bystanders to beat the crap out of the guy but that was after he knew his four footed partner was unhurt.

A police car came and picked up the driver. The mountie checked his horse over, remounted and the two continued directing traffic as if nothing had happened.

"(after bashing his head againt the door a few times)"

Charming. Not to excuse the stupid driver, but there's no excuse (in your account) for the gratuitous police violence, either.

And how upstanding of the officer to reject the offers of mob violence from the crazed animal lovers.

Just sayin'.........\

:shrug:

Let them jump and see if they'll survive. Here he did.

Or... next time, simply don't drive drunk and evade police. :shrug:

Are they considered officers of the law?

It is also a felony to kill a police dog.

2921.321 Assaulting or harassing police dog or horse or service dog.
(A) No person shall knowingly cause, or attempt to cause, physical harm to a police dog or horse in either of the following circumstances:

(1) The police dog or horse is assisting a law enforcement officer in the performance of the officer’s official duties at the time the physical harm is caused or attempted.

~snip~

(E)(1) Whoever violates division (A) of this section is guilty of assaulting a police dog or horse. Except as otherwise provided in this division, assaulting a police dog or horse is a misdemeanor of the second degree. If the violation results in the death of the police dog or horse, assaulting a police dog or horse is a felony of the third degree. If the violation results in serious physical harm to the police dog or horse other than its death, assaulting a police dog or horse is a felony of the fourth degree. If the violation results in physical harm to the police dog or horse other than death or serious physical harm, assaulting a police dog or horse is a misdemeanor of the first degree.

Those are the words of an old friend of mine.
On his 4th DWI this past summer, facing 7 years for a felony, he went home and shot himself.

It's not the driver, it's not the cop and it's not the dog.

It's the disease of alcoholism.

The disease that is magically cured by liquor industry lobbyists stuffing money into the pockets of our Congress.

A Congresswoman pushed to provide funding to combat alcohol use by teenagers.
The money would have been allocated under the drug control policy umbrella, since underage drinking is illegal drug use.
The liquor industry went nuts!
A small army of liquor lobbyists (with plenty of money) descended on Capitol Hill and - presto! - the money was not allocated to the requested purpose.
The official excuse was that this funding would "dilute the message" of the ODCP.

And, after a decades-long ban, hard liquor is now being promoted in TV advertisements.
Another lobbying success for the dealers.

About the funding thing, I'd have to get more information on what exactly they were planning to do. "Combat alcohol use" is a feel-good phrase that, like so many other feel-good phrases, can be used to forward truly wretched policies.

As an aside, the alcohol lobby doesn't seem to be all-powerful, since they couldn't stop the drinking age from being raised to 21. They should have been successful at THAT instead of the ad thing.

the "Partnership For A Drug Free America". I'm not sure if that's still true or not, as there was a bit of a controversy when their motivations came to light.

Alcoholism has been a scourge of mankind long before the alcohol lobby came about though.

and probably would have saved the dog's life.