I would consider entering forcefully, by kicking someone's door in (presumably literally breaking it), "breaking in". If you want to argue semantics, go for it.
What exactly stopped the cops from ringing the bell or knocking on the door, and presenting a warrant in a civilized manner? Presumably they know the only occupant is an old infirm woman.
And you're assuming the dog attacked. An assumption. Though presumably any dog would be alarmed if a group of men broke into its house (so indeed, it may have barked at them, or attacked them). Though given all the the police-related dog killings, including shooting a labrador running away from them (or that incident not too long ago, where they shot a "hostile" chihuahua...in its crate), you'll forgive me if I'm a little skeptical.
This could all have been avoided if they had exercised some restraint, and used some common sense.
What stopped the cops from knocking on the door? Probably the type of warrant that was being served. I already mentioned that, but again, typically a warrant where drugs are the contraband being targeted are no-knock warrants. This is done for the safety of the officers and for the hopes that evidence doesnt get destroyed.
I didnt assume anything about the dog attacking. EVERYTIME I said that IF the dog attacked then they were within their rights to shoot it. Anyone shooting a dog that is running away deserved to be punished.
A house search is not some chaotic running through a door and around a house while shooting everything down.
The whole "assault" group is divided into small teams, each team has a certain path to follow, a certain area to cover, so that every single cop can make it home alive at the end of the search.
You're suggesting that one or two of these cops could have interrupted their part of the search to run after a wounded dog just to put it down. That would go against every single safety rule in the book.
First, you finish what it is you're supposed to do. Then you take care of the wounded if there's any. You don't put yourself, or people who need you and rely on you for cover, at risk just to put down an animal who's probably running like crazy all over the place in an erratic pattern.
I love animals, but God knows that in that situation the dog could go to hell. I'm not getting killed or getting one of my men killed just to put a dying animal out of its misery.
THIS X 100. I have been a part of entry teams on drug warrants and other no-knock warrants. If I had left my section that I was assigned or the other officer that I was supposed to be working with to go put a dog that had been shot out of its misery, I would be scolded, possibly disciplined in some way after the fact and maybe even told not to be a part of these teams since I cant follow orders/protocol.
Again, it's partly because, the way I see it:
1) If they'd used their heads, you know, done some surveillance and assessed the situation before busting in like a military tactical unit, then they would have probably figured out that that kind of behavior is completely unnecessary. Dog seemed to die because of poor planning on their part.
2) There was no further danger of any kind inside the house, and it seems hard for me to believe that they couldn't have figured that out inside the house.
3) This was a marijuana bust. Arresting people for marijuana possession is the single largest waste of police time and resources. The fact that a dog died to "protect" us from something as objectively harmless as weed really pisses me off.
And, maybe this is just me, but in the end I would kind of expect them to. I feel like the police are supposed to be very heroic in character for the sake of the community. But that is a pretty silly expectation to a certain extent.
#1-There may have been a need for better or more surveillance, again we dont know for sure. And again, sometimes surveillance cant be conducted as well as it should or it has to end at some point before the warrant is executed. There are lots of variables and things that we dont know about this situation and may never know. But "busting in like a military tactical unit" is the way they handle these types of warrants, regardless. God knows the one time they use a half-measure is the one time that they get killed.
Here is a first hand personal example:
In 2008, I was part of a team with a drug warrant on a crack dealer. This dealer just so happened to be confined to a wheelchair. We learned through intel that he usually kept a gun and other weapons in his wheelchair. So, we decided that when we got to him wherever he was in the house, we would get him off the wheelchair and to the ground immediately. So that is what we did and sure enough, he was sitting on a .38 revolver. Now, to the outside observer, it may have looked like we were abusing a poor handicapped man, but in fact, we took the necessary action to prevent anyone of our team (or him) from getting hurt.
That information about him having weapons in the wheelchair came from intel we gathered. HOWEVER, what we did would have been the policy ANYWAY. You enter the house and get every person you come in contact with on the floor immediately and start restraining them. We just wanted to make sure that nobody treated him any differently because he is in a wheelchair.
#2 We dont know at what point the dog was shot, whether they had cleared the entire house or not.
#3 The way the story reads, this is about someone
manufacturing marijuana, which is a MUCH heftier crime than any simple possession. Regardless if how you feel about marijuana, manufacturing it and possessing it (with a few exceptions which do not appear to apply to this case) is 100% illegal.
And again, lets remember where this all begins, the grandson, who is allegedly growing or storing marijuana in this house.
If it was a suspected drug house, all law enforcement agencies follow strict procedures for their own safety. There's been plenty of drug houses with people that carry automatic weapons, for all they knew there could have been a few people in the house conducting "business." Every time I hear about a story like this it's always the same: the cops bust down the door wearing bullet proof protection and masks and tell everybody to get on the ground. It's protocol.
It's an illegal drug, whether your opinion on it's ethics differs or not it's still against the law and apparently there was an abundance of it.
^ This x100.
It's absolutely terrifying thinking that the majority of people who become police don't do it because they want to help people or protect people... they do it because they love the power and abuse that power for thuggery
I REALLY hope that this is sarcasm.
If not, thanks for making an assumption about thousands of people who get paid very little to put up with a bunch of BS from regular citizens and full blown criminals, deal with life threatening situations (or at least the chance of them) on a fairly regular basis, only to be criticized publicly often when there is a mistake made or the assumption that a mistake is made by people who usually dont know the law or police procedures.
how could she tell if the dog wasn't being aggressive or not if her head was on the ground and her eyes were shut? 
