UPDATE (August 21) — From a press conference w/ San Marcos Mayor Susan Narvaiz, the mayor noted that that a second police officer tried to resuscitate the dog by giving it CPR.
Good for him and he should be as commended as Officer Stephens should be condemned.
Also, the comments section has a lot of generalized police bashing. I won’t tolerate it, as I am exceptionally supportive of our men in blue. Officer Stephens actions and poor judgment are an exception and not a rule.
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I’m usually a big fan and supporter of Police Officers. I believe the majority of them to be exceptionally honest and decent people doing very difficult, dangerous, and important work.
But there are a few out there — as there are in any profession — that give the rest of them a bad name.
Like San Marcos (TX) Police Officer Paul Stephens, who pulled over Michael Gonzalez just after Midnight on August 5th for speeding:
A Texas State University student who waited to get a speeding ticket while his girlfriend’s dog died in her arms has filed a formal complaint with the San Marcos police over the Aug. 5 incident.
Krystal Hernandez was holding her ailing teacup poodle, Missy, while her boyfriend, Michael Gonzalez, raced south on Interstate 35 — allegedly hitting 95 mph — toward a 24-hour veterinary clinic in New Braunfels.
After their car was pulled over sometime after midnight, the couple said they were kept waiting for 20 minutes by Officer Paul Stephens before he issued the ticket, despite their desperate pleas.
Police Chief Howard Williams said an internal investigation was begun after Gonzalez complained.
“This was not our finest hour,” Williams said. “It was not handled right by our officer, but whether there was a violation of our policy that is subject to punishment, I don’t know.”
That’s a gross understatement.
But it gets worse:
“Instead of helping us, he asked Michael what he was on,” Hernandez said.
She said they begged to be allowed to take the dog to the clinic, also asking that they be allowed to turn themselves in to be ticketed or arrested or for Stephens to detain Gonzalez there while she drove the dog to New Braunfels.
Instead, she claims, Stephens responded, “Chill out, it’s just a dog, you can buy another one.”
Instead of hurrying to issue the ticket, Gonzalez said, Stephens chatted with two other officers on the scene. When he finally allowed them to leave 20 minutes later, the dog was dead, Gonzalez said.
What Officer Stephens should have done is offer to escort them to the emergency vet hospital. That is the the “serve” part of to “protect and serve” oath. Instead this asshole chose to stand by callously and watch their dog die. And then mock them for it.
Would Officer Stephens have acted the same way if it was somebody’s child dying in their arms? Sadly, we don’t know the answer to that question…but I don’t think it’s worth trying to find out.
Officer Stephens has already demonstrated his inability to show compassion or common sense in this case, so I’m not especially confident that he would do so in other situations that called for either.
He should be fired. He won’t be. But he should be.
I won’t go so far as saying he should be fired. One, I don’t thing it warrants it. You don’t know his work history, which may demonstrate that he has performed his job duties competently until now. Not every act of misconduct deserves firing. Two, people are not born with perfect judgment. Few people are born with good judgment. It needs to be learned. In hindsight, I have seen so many bonehead mistakes, including a few committed by me, I have lost count. Three, not sure what actually killed the dog and if the delay was the cause of the dogs death. The description of what happened to the dog, requiring it to be taken to the vet, doesn’t make sense. If and when did the dog stop breathing? If the airway was completely blocked, I would think it would have died sooner. If the dog still had an open airway but its heart stopped beating, did they try cpr? I’m not sure why pet owners and parents don’t know cpr. Four, if it were me and it was an emergency, I would have kept driving, but at a safe speed, until I got to the vet clinic. Or, when stopped, got out of the car, and told the gf to drive off with the dog.
Left by Anonymous on August 14th, 2008 at 12:04 pm