This Cop is an Asshole

Dog dies after traffic cop apathetic to owner's pleas

SAN MARCOS, Texas -- 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 found Stephens guilty of any misconduct.

"This was not our finest hour," said San Marcos Police Chief Howard Williams.

However, Williams did say that Stephens behavior was less than stellar.

"His world was collapsing. And what the officer says to him, basically, is, 'I don't care,'" Williams said.

I know it seems like I have been on a tangent against cops lately, but this story is just proof that some people have no business working as police officers. I've been in that situation before--taking a dying dog to the vet--in my case it wasn't my dog and the traffic was too heavy to speed--but I don't know what I would have done if I had been stopped for some reason. And I don't care what some people think (I was on the comment section of ABC about this story and the message was from some--it's just a dog not as important as a human)--a dog for some owners is their child (the dog I was carrying to the vet was my grandmother's--her only companion as my grandfather was slipping deeper and deeper into Alzheimer's).

I did pretty good till I got to the vet and picked the dog up and realized he was dead--his head lolled back and I started to scream. The vet had been waiting for me--rushed out and took the dog from me. I cried off and on for a week--that was 93 and for years I had moments of panic over that day. I have been known to gage my entire judgment of people on how they related to that story. I have not been kind in my opinion of people who said "it was just a dog."

May be there should be new tests for policemen--tests that gage their compassion for their fellow creatures on this earth. If that policeman had no compassion for that young man, he had/has no business continuing to be a police officer.