A routine arrest on a misdemeanor warrant turned into a wild melee on Broadway involving three Kingston cops, an Olive man and an angry pit bull. The Jan. 13 brawl left one cop with a bite wound to his hand, the dog recovering from a gunshot wound and 32-year-old David Smith facing felony charges after he allegedly set the animal on officers.
According to police, the incident occurred around 6:30 p.m. on Broadway near Field Court when Kingston cop Ryan Schuman, on routine patrol, spotted Smith walking with his dog. Recognizing Smith from the department’s warrant list (he was wanted for a charge of criminal mischief) Schuman detained Smith and called for backup. A few minutes later, with officers Aaron Fitzgerald and Jeremy Arciello on the scene, Schuman informed Smith that he was under arrest.
At that point, according to KPD Chief Egidio Tinti, Smith turned the dog loose. In the ensuing scuffle, police say, the dog bit Arciello on the hand, causing a minor wound. Then after first using a Taser, which failed to deploy properly, Fitzgerald drew his service weapon and fired a single shot, striking the dog in the body. Smith who, police said, struggled with police and ignored commands to get the dog under control, was also Tased during the incident.
Tinti said that the officers involved transported the dog to Buckhead Paws an emergency veterinary center in the Town of Ulster, where the animal is reported to be in stable condition. Arciello was taken to KingstonHospital where he was treated for puncture wounds and released. Smith was arrested and booked on a felony charge of second-degree assault and three misdemeanor counts of resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration and criminal mischief.
Tinti said that the shooting was regrettable, but added that Fitzgerald, who is a certified firearms instructor and member of the department’s emergency response team, acted in accordance with department guidelines to prevent serious injury to himself and fellow officers.
“It’s unfortunate because it’s not the dog’s fault,” said Tinti. “Once [Smith] releases the dog he’s saying all bets are off. It’s sad it came down to that, but it’s the owner’s fault, apparently he had no regard for the animal.”
According to police, Smith was sent to Ulster County Jail without bail after his arraignment.
Pits are often acquired and used as weapons, as in this case. Most non-bully dogs are companions, but not pits. They are status symbols, fighters, acquired for breeding income and/or for the vicarious power and aggression they provide their owners.
Because of this, they are often not spayed/neutered, so they breed and die like flies, they fill our pounds where they MUST be killed by the TON, literally, to make room for the next swarm of incoming pits.
Pits suffer and die disproportionately AND cause disproportionate suffering and death to others (pets and people).
Most people who acquire pits would not want to own a spayed/neutered pit. They could not receive income from breeding pits, and they would lack the status and power that nonk-neutered pits provide their owners.
The compassionate and sane way to reduce the pit crisis is to enact and enforce spay/neuter microchipping of all pits, pit mixes, all dog aggressie dogs. Ban their sale and breeding. The only way to acquire a pit would be to adopt a spayed/neuted one from a rescue.
Tragically, this is opposed by current pit BULLY people. The original pitmen who created the pit bull did not carea about the welfare of others and didn’t care about pit welfare either. Tragically the current pit BULLY people don’t care about dog or human welfare either. They only care about themselves and their ability to breed and own the dog of their choice. Period.
Debbie, aren’t you one of _those_ itinerant trolls?