Not too sure where to post this
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Va. Officer Probed In Killing Of Deer

By Jamie Stockwell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 6, 2005; Page B02

The injured deer was suffering, so the Arlington County police officer shot it in the head. When that didn't kill it, the deer was run over by a cruiser. Finally, a bag was placed over its head and it suffocated.

Now, an Arlington police officer is under internal investigation for his handling of the incident last month.

The sergeant, whose name was withheld by authorities, faces administrative sanctions for the methods he chose June 18 when trying to destroy the injured deer, said Matt Martin, a police spokesman. The officer is not on administrative leave, nor have his duties been redefined, but the department wants to examine its policy on injured animals.

"We recognize [the entire incident] showed poor decision making," Martin said yesterday. "If administrative sanctions are recommended, they will be implemented."

Martin said the officer was called to the 6900 block of Williamsburg Boulevard about 6:40 a.m. after the deer jumped over a guardrail on Interstate 66 and plunged 30 feet to the road below. After consulting with his supervisor -- a lieutenant in the patrol division -- the officer fired a single shot at the deer's head, Martin said, in accordance with the department's policy to kill any suffering or dangerous animal.

But the deer didn't die.

Instead of shooting the animal a second time, the sergeant authorized two other responding officers to drive a cruiser over the deer's neck. That, too, did not kill the animal.

Finally, Martin said, the three officers wrapped a plastic bag around the deer's head and suffocated it. A photograph of the dead deer and the sergeant was taken by one of the other officers, but Martin said the sergeant's explanation for the Polaroid was that it was needed for the incident report.

The department, Martin added, is conferring with other agencies on their policies so that Arlington County, which responds to one or two such incidents a year, is better equipped to handle the situation next time.

"This is not how our police department normally does business," Martin said. "This was an isolated incident, something our officers are called upon to do only a couple of times a year . . . but it's not the kind of judgment that we expect out of our supervisors."

In my neck of the woods there is a call list of people that will take fresh road kill.

Maybe the LEO's should defer to the experts in these instances.

In a simular situation...

My neighbor's dog was run over in front of his house. (Out where the blacktop ends.) He shot him 5 times without killing him.

I asked if I could "give it a shot."

I put a shell in the chamber and walked the 20' to the dog and put the barrel to his head.

I'm guessing this cop isn't the sharpest tool in the shed.

Hehe ... back when I was in IDPA pretty regular, we used to joke around about why so many of those LEOs needed 30 rounds in their 9mm sidearms and another 2 or 3 30 round mags on their belts as "backup".

When I was in the army one of our trucks hit a moose and the police arrived to kill it.

After three shots to the head with a Walther PP .32 it still wouldn't die.

After a while one of the young farmer lads from the army went up and hit it in the neck with a axe and ended its misery.

I heard of an other story in the UK where someone stopped, at what looked as an accident scene, to see if he could help, just to find a load of bambiists standing round an injured squirrel and wondering what to do. He suggested that the best thing would be to put it out of its misery and offered to do so. He was almost lynched.

A friend of mine here in Alabama hit a black cow one night with his Jeep Cherokee. It wounded the cow something fierce and messed up his Jeep even worse. My friend wasn't hurt too badly himself, and after they'd called and gotten a State Trooper on the scene, Dan explained to the trooper that he had a pistol in the jeep and could he just shoot the cow since troopers had to account for all their ammo and paperwork, etc.

The trooper said no, to just wait until they could find the cow's owner and ask what he wanted to do with it, so the two of them just sort of sat there watching this cow moan and bellow beside the road until the wrecker showed up.

When the wrecker got there, the guy jumps out, hears the cow bellowing and says, "Oh, the cow's still alive.", then without another word grabs a revolver from his wrecker and puts 3 or 4 rounds into the cow's head on the spot with my friend and the State Trooper just standing there staring, then put his gun up and started hooking the wrecker up to Dan's Jeep like it was nothing at all.

Dan said he turned the the trooper, and the trooper just shrugged and shook his head.

I have had to shoot dozens of car hit deer over the last 27 years. I do not use my side arm. I find that a load of OObuck is a lot faster. Deer that is has it's head flopping around is a lot easier to hit with the buck.

Ones has to remember this is not a sporting thing. A world warII vet( who saw a lot of action) once told be if your going to kill something do not gve it a chance.