Frequent readers of TFTP know too well how many beloved family pets are gunned down every year by public servants in the U.S. It happens so much that there is a term for it called “puppycide.” We have an endless archive of stories in which dogs meet their untimely ends at the end of a cop’s gun.
According to an unofficial count done by an independent research group, Ozymandias Media, a dog is shot by law enforcement every 98 minutes. That number could be higher too as many of the cases never make the media reports.
One cop in Buffalo has apparently made it his mission to make sure that rate stays as high as possible — that cop is Detective Joseph M. Cook.
Cook was the subject of a recently settled lawsuit against the Buffalo police department after they raided the home of Adam Arroyo back in 2013. According to the lawsuit, police were looking for alleged drug activity that day. When they raided the home, however, they found no such drugs but they did find Arroyo’s dog, Cindy.
The lawsuit states that Cindy was leashed up in the kitchen while Arroyo was at work when the raid took place. Arroyo explained that she had been getting bored when he was out and tore up some furniture, so he put her on a leash that day.
During the entirely fruitless and pointless raid, detective Cook found Cindy in the kitchen and shot her three times at point blank range, killing her. Cook maintains that the dog was off the leash when he confronted her but the settlement and Cook’s history tell a completely different story.
