‘Our pets are not their target practice’: Outrage as Nebraska cop points, activates taser at Golden Retriever

Outrage has been erupting after a Nebraska police officer was caught on video pointing and activating his taser at a Golden Retriever who was barking at him. The owner said that her Golden Retriever saw the police car and ran into the yard to bark at it, according to an X post by Matt Van Swol.Outrage as Nebraska cop points, activates taser at Golden Retriever (Pexel - representational image)The officer pulled into the driveway to notify the owner there was a "loose dog,” per the post.The post added, “Police say the Golden Retriever then "continued barking and growling near the passenger side of the patrol vehicle" and the officer needed to "protect himself" by activating his taser.”The dog’s owner reportedly said that the pooch is friendly and even responded to verbal commands of the officer to "stay back,” according to the post.Netizens slammed the officer in the comment section of Swol’s post.Also Read | Justice for Jameson: GoFundMe launched for dog killed by LAPD during Knicks victory celebration, ‘The sweetest boy…’“The owner should have just been a career criminal dealing drugs with a bunch of illegal machine guns. Cops don't bother those people,” one user wrote.Another commented, “These coward cops need fired. Our pets are not their fkn target practice”.“Serious judgement issues with the cop. Should be forced to go thru the academy again,” one user wrote, while another said, “This is ridiculous. The police need to be trained to stop being so aggressive against pets .”“Why are police everyday a joke? Does anyone take police seriously anymore?” a user commented.St. Paul Police Department speaks outThe St. Paul Police Department spoke out after the social media outrage, claiming that the dog was not tased. St. Paul Police said that the officer was driving past a local residence when the dog left a front porch, ran through the yard, entered the roadway, and started to bark and growl at the patrol vehicle.The officer noticed that the front door of the home was open, and subsequently pulled into the driveway to notify the homeowners that their dogs were loose. The officer reportedly pulled out his taster before stepping out as the dog barked and growled near the passenger side of the vehicle.Police said that the dog approached the officer as he walked around the front of his vehicle. He ordered the dog to back away and activated the taser just to produce a warning sound, which made the dog retreat through an open gate.Also Read | Days after LAPD dog shooting, Norfolk cop shoots pooch dead while investigating separate incident – what we knowDepartment officials stressed that the taser was not deployed.“No probes were fired, the TASER never contacted the dog, and the dog was not shocked or injured,” the St. Paul Police Department said, per ksnblocal4.The dog returned through the gate as the officer approached the front door of the residence to knock, which prompted him to keep his taser down. The resident asked if the dog had been tased, and the officer then demonstrated the device’s warning sound by pointing it in a safe direction to prove it had not been fired.The department stated that the officer just meant to alert the homeowner before a loose dog was struck by a vehicle and to protect himself from an unfamiliar and aggressive animal.“We understand that seeing an officer holding a TASER near a dog can be concerning, but no force was used against the animal,” the department said. “Once the resident was notified, the officer left the property.”