you know don't kick my dog tell don't p on somebody who will kick a tiny little cute sweet dog like that will do other things and probably has done other things do your dogs have any constitutional rights or do we have any constitutional rights for the protection of our dogs from Cops this disturbing footage was submitted by Ronaldo this comes to us from the calu Cal cazu the kashu Parish Sheriff's Office is kashu Parish Sheriff's Department in Louisiana he wrote that two cops showed up at my apartment and claimed that I had backed into their patrol vehicle before they told me why they were there one of them kicked my 13lb dog because he snuck out and started to pee on the cops late don't kick my dog don't on my leg look but it gets worse he also said this I have autism and generalized anxiety and him kicking my dog frightened me so I told him what I thought he wanted to hear and admitted to something I don't think I actually did and so they arrested him took him right out of his residence from what I can tell with no arrest warrant at all he said that he called to compl Lain about it but nobody at the sheriff's department even called him back about the matter he said probably nothing can be done about it but he just wants to spread awareness first of all as I've had to explain far too often recently according to the 1980 Supreme Court opinion in Payton versus New York in order for the police to legally arrest somebody at their home rather than in a public place if there's no exent circumstances or consent police officers must have a warrant so here for these officers to legally arrest this man if they didn't have a warrant it was unconstitutional unless there are exent circumstances which I see none or valid consent which must be voluntary showing up to your door and kicking your dog doesn't really qualify so shame on you Kazu Parish Sheriff's Office or Sheriff's Department whatever it's called so I get this question a lot do your dogs have any constitutional rights or do we have any constitutional rights for the protection of our dogs from Cops well it was only about nine days ago that I posted the video of the 10 pound Shih Tzu named Teddy being executed by a police officer in Sturgeon I think it was Missouri come on baby there you go there you go that's not how you handle a situation if a dog is a threat to a person it harms a person or shows immediate threat that's when you use Force there is many other you want to talk or you want to tell me how to do the job since I put up that video and it went viral elsewhere the mayor there sturgeon had resigned and then the new mayor suspended the cop who executed Teddy and it was just in a Washington Post two days ago police officer shot a blind pet dog this small town wants Justice well good remember when I told you that was the way to do it the mayor there initially defended the cop and they tried to claim that there was some concern about rabies that just didn't hold up to the actual body cam footage some residents including those who describe themselves as Pro police have gone as far as calling for the dismantling of their two officer law enforcement agency I think you get this entire problem solved with the police department you shut it down one man said to Applause during a contentious City olderman meeting this week but his outrage has steadily grown in and Beyond sturgeon the city has declined to dismiss the officer despite his actions appearing to go against City code petition only had a couple thousand signatures when I first mentioned there is now a petition with over 3,000 signatures demanding that the city remove officer myON Woodson for what he did to Teddy if you're upset about this I will post a link to the petition sign the petition again it's got already over 3,000 signatures if you watch that footage and you're not outraged then you're part of the problem now it has 54,000 signatures also a federal lawsuit has now been filed let's keep up the pressure in Sturgeon Missouri and there are plenty of videos of police shooting dogs but when it's a real tiny dog or blind and deaf dog or even a puppy these are the most egregious ones and I did do a video Once on a police officer shooting a vicious looking puppy this was from and I'm being sarcastic there this is from the lovelin police department this was just a 14-month-old dog and they killed the dog my baby get back to the truck he just made my baby why did you have to shoot him he's F he's a puppy get to your truck I didn't know that he's a puppy can I see you get to the truck please let me see him please oh my God let me see can't believe you [ __ ] shot him get in the truck oh my God please let me see him he's ding' just get back to your truck if he's dying let me see him he's dying okay okay oh my God can I call Ev ma' get away he will bite you he's hurt he will bite you he's hurt why you killed him he will bite you he's hurt sir tell her to get away he will bite her he's hurt and now back to the question of whether or not we have any constitutional rights pertaining to our pets we all know that the fourth amendment protects us against unreasonable searches and seizures that could apply to us as persons or that could apply to our property including our effects so as an initial matter it's well settled under federal case law that privately owned dogs are effects under the Fourth Amendment and that the shooting and killing of such a dog by the police constitutes a seizure so it's a different legal standard than your usual police shooting case it's similar though it's an overall reasonableness standard recognizing that police can lawfully shoot dogs where officer safety justifies that decision so the key is a legitimate claim to officer safety the question is whether at the time the officer shot the dog whether he had a reasonable belief that the dog posed a threat to himself or to others if the facts are sufficient to show that the officer's belief was unreasonable that the dog was not a threat then the law is clearly established and most circuits including mine the fourth circuit that shooting a dog under those circumstances would constitute an unreasonable and therefore illegal seizure of our property under the Fourth Amendment that's not a great way of looking at the value of our dogs of man's best friend but that's the actual legal analysis that has been used in these cases fortunately in this particular submission the dog wasn't killed he was just kicked he was just hurt so is there anything that can be done about that well I think he's probably right that it doesn't rise to the level of making it at least not financially worth it to file a civil lawsuit over which can be very expensive but it's something that should be taken seriously by the public the public should complain to that sheriff's department and there should be discipline for this somebody who will kick a tiny little cute sweet dog like that will do other things and probably has done other things this is one of those situations where the police who claim to police their own need to police their own now just theoretically speaking if a police officer took the rare course of action of not shooting a dog and just wanted to beat it just beat it up perhaps the damage would reach a level to where you could make a case that although it didn't kill the dog it still damaged your effects damaged your property which is again an awful way to look at it but that's the legal structure that we have to work in here again it's not going to rise to that level but let's not let it rise to that level because let's do something about this police officer who did that and also what is their excuse what is their explanation for arresting this autistic man at his house without a warrant because he damaged a police cruiser allegedly okay if you have probable cause to believe that he damaged a police cruiser go get a warrant and if that probable cause consists of an admission that he allegedly made at his door during a consensual knock and talk the remedy is to go get a warrant come back with a warrant and arrest him that's what the Constitution requires you can't just grab him from his door and put him in in handcuffs put him in the police car because now you have violated the Constitution that you have sworn an oath to protect but you don't because police officers violate that oath all over the country every day and we only know about it when it's caught on video so spread the video spread the footage make your support for the Constitution known to your elected public servants they don't even care about lawsuits they care about negative publicity if you have a video you want me to review please use the submission link below you can follow me on Twitter or follow me on X John Brian Esq especially especially if you like unrelated history stuff please subscribe both here and at the blog at the civils lawyer.com remember our rights don't end where your fear begins just because you're afraid of a little dog doesn't mean that you get to kick or kill our little dog freedom is scary deal with it or go do something else