Can a police go over the speed limit to save his police dog?

Question

A man (not a police) went up to 100 mph to rush his choking dog to the vet but got pulled over by the police who held him for 15 minutes so the dog died despite the man's plead. If a police dog was dieing, can a police go over the speed limit?

Answer 1

That's messed up. The officer should have given him an escort to the vet. But, the cops can do whatever they want, and obviously they didn't care. If you know this guy personally, you should have him contact his local news teams and ask them to do a story.

Answer 2

A police dog is an officer of the law, so yes they can.  I also think the police should understand that to most people, their dogs are part of the family.  Would he have kept the guy there if it was his child? No.

Answer 3

A police officer has lights and sirens to warn other motorists that he's approaching, and would drive with due regard.  The guy with his dog doesn't.

Answer 4

That cop is a massive a*****e.

He should have given the man a police escort to the animal hospital.

Answer 5

Driving 100mph is putting people in danger.  Endangering people to save a dog it unacceptable.

Answer 6

First let me say..the guy doing 100MPH trying to save his dog...and risking the lives of infants, adults, children...and anyone else who happened to be in the cars around him, was an idiot.

You know most states follow the national transportation safety boards recommendation of 10mph over the posted speed limit. They have laws in place..Ambulances, carrying HUMAN patients are only allowed to go 10mph over the limit in a lot of states, and some states say never over 80 regardless of posted limits.

If ambulances are restricted to 10mph over with a HUMAN patient, what made this guy think he could risk a BUNCH of lives to save a dog?

As far as police officers and their dogs go, those dogs have special rights...if you kill a police dog its basically the same as killing a police officer. BUT...let a police officer driving 100MPH to save a police dog crash into another car and injure someone, and see how fast that person owns the police department.

There really are uniform speed codes in most states...and yes a police officer with his lights on could probably get away with driving 100MPH to save his police dog. But if he messes up and hits another car while doing so...He just lost his jobm would probably get brought up on criminal charges, and just cost his county a WHOLE LOT OF MONEY!!!!!

Answer 7

I just wanted to post the news story for anyone on here that hasn't read it.  What an a*****e that cop had to be; things like that make me lose so much faith in humanity.  I don't want all cops to be chastised for this though, I believe there must be a few out there that would have done the right thing and given them an escort to the vet.  Here's the article:

A Texas couple, whose sick dog died as the pair waited along a Texas roadside while a police officer wrote them a speeding ticket, said they are not satisfied with how the officer involved was reprimanded and believe he should be fired.

Pet owners were stopped for speeding while rushing dying pet to vet.

Michael Gonzalez and his girlfriend were pulled over as they raced to an animal hospital, near San Marcos, Texas, allegedly at speeds up to 100 mph, Aug. 5. Gonzalez is seen on the police dashboard camera screaming hysterically that the dog, a 3-pound teacup poodle named Missy, was dying.

"It's just a dog, you can get another one," Officer Paul Stephens is heard saying.

"What I think is fair — I would just like to see the officer held responsible for the way he treated us," Texas State University student Michael Gonzalez told "Good Morning America" I feel that an oral [reprimand] really isn't a punishment at all. It's nothing really."

Though officer Paul Stephens' supervisors found him not guilty of misconduct in the incident, the police officer was ordered to undergo counseling.

"His world was collapsing. And what the officer says to him, basically is, 'I don't care,'" said San Marcos Police Department Chief Howard Williams.

Answer 8

With all due respect, it is my OPINION there are many massively important events going on in the world, and according to some of the blogs that I have read today, too many people are singling out this one story.  This story, in contrast to others is being given a too disproportionate amount of attention...but again, this is just my opinion.

Now, that being said...

I believe that the guy was in the wrong to drive 100mph down the road.  It's very dangerous, and unless a person is specially trained to do so, it is very easy to lose control of the vehicle.  Obviously, this result could have lead to even more deaths than the dog's.

However, once the officer knew exactly what the situation was, there were definitely some better ways that he could have handled the scenario.

Answer 9

Right! that cop was a b*****d! He should have given the guy an escort to the Vets!  I would make a wrongful death of the dog against the Police! Man or beast, doggie was a living breathing being, no matter what shape he was in.  The cop should have helped the guy! And yes! you can bet your bottom dollar, if the dog had been a Police Dog, his handler would do anything to save his life!  Including speeding with all sirens blareing!!! If this story is true, sue the cop and the Police Force!!