Cop shoots at snake, kills boy, 5

[n2doc]

Cop shoots at snake, kills boy, 5
Story Highlights
Austin Haley, 5, was shot in head while fishing with his grandfather
Police officer who fired shot was aiming at a snake
Snake was in a tree, hissing at people
The grandfather, Jack Tracy, says he thought someone was trying to kill him


NOBLE, Oklahoma (AP) -- A police officer shooting at a snake apparently killed a 5-year-old boy who was fishing at a nearby pond, officials said.


Jack Tracy was fishing with his grandson when a bullet fired by a police officer struck the boy in the head.

Austin Haley was fishing with his grandfather, Jack Tracy, when Tracy said he heard a shot and saw something hit the water just a few feet in front of the boat dock where he was standing.

Moments later, a second shot hit Austin in the head.

A Noble police officer who had responded to a report of a snake in a tree apparently fired the deadly shot while trying to kill the snake on Friday, City Manager Bob Wade said.

"I was told that they tried several ways to get the snake down, but it was still hissing at them and firmly lodged," Wade said. "What I was told is that the owner of the home either suggested or agreed that they should go ahead and shoot the snake, and then everything happened from there."

Tracy thought someone must be trying to kill him and his grandson, so he put the child on the back of a 4-wheeler and drove to his daughter's house about 200 yards away.

"Then two officers came out of the brush over there," he told The Oklahoman. "They didn't tell us they were the ones who had been shooting or that they had shot him. They didn't admit a doggone thing."

The boy was pronounced dead at an Oklahoma City hospital, about 25 miles north of Noble.

Wade refused to identify the officer but said the person had been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

"This is so bizarre it has to be fully investigated," he said. "We're pretty sure circumstantially that it is the bullet from the police officer's gun, but it might be a bullet from someone else."

Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation spokeswoman Jessica Brown said a state investigation was under way, though it appeared the fatal shot had been fired by the officer.

Tracy has little doubt. "I'm not saying the cop shot him on purpose," he said. "But let me tell you -- if I had a kid and put him in this car and didn't put him in a car seat and he got killed on the way to town, they'd charge me with murder ... and what this cop did is a lot worse than that."

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/06/boy.killed.ap/index.html

[Zywiec]

1. What a dumbass

That cop needs to be put away..

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Oh how sad

:cry:

[HereSince1628]

3. So, does anyone know what type of snake it was?

Why isn't that part of the story?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. That is important.

I can understand why a few bystanders got hurt.

[HereSince1628]

11. I think shooting something because it hisses at you is absolutely stupid.

Obviously worse if you don't know what is going to be the backstop for the bullets.

It would make a wretched story worse if a non-poisonous snake was shot at because an ophidiophobe was scared of "dangerous hissing" and a cop wanted to shoot more than call someone emotionally and logistically equipped to remove it.

[YOY]

13. What film is that from?

n/t

[Arkansas Granny]

7. Apparently, they thought the snake was a water moccasin.

The officer, whose name has not been released by the Noble police department, was responding to a call sometime around 8 p.m. about a snake trapped in a birdhouse. The animal is believed to have been a “cotton mouth” or “water moccasin” — a poisonous water snake. It was then the officer allegedly unholstered his firearm and expelled two rounds.

http://www.normantranscript.com/localnews/local_story_216232420.html

[Ganja Ninja]

5. You never shoot at anything without considering what might be ...

downrange. Secondly why shoot a snake in a tree or anywhere else for that matter? It sounds like they were just two good old boys taking some pot shots without thinking. The cop that fired that bullet should be prosecuted.

[joeunderdog]

12. How about calling animal control? n/t

[smokey nj]

6. What a horrible story. I feel so bad for this family.

[The Vinyl Ripper]

8. Given the opportunity, snakes will always leave people alone..

Shooting at snakes is idiotic, all they want is to be left alone.

My sympathies to the family and I hope the cop is convicted of negligent homicide.

[kath]

9. there's a lengthier discussion on this story in LBN.

That cop definitely neeeds to be charged with negligent homicide.

[tularetom]

10. A bullet?

I've shot two rattlesnakes in my driveway this summer. They come up onto the warm asphalt when it starts to cool down at night and scare the horses. But I use a single shot .410 shotgun from 10 to 15 feet away. WTF is this cop doing firing his sidearm up into a tree at a frigin snake for crissakes? We need to pay these guys more and raise the standards so that numnuts like this don't get to run around shooting att anything that moves.