Remember that substandard police training I was talking about? It was finally combined with modern policing’s love of puppycide to its logical conclusion. Via Uncle I learned that Douglas, Georgia shot a 10 year-old kid while trying to gun down the family dog:
Sheriff Wooten said a deputy, who was not named, was on approaching the property when a dog ran up to him. The deputy fired one shot, missing the dog and hitting the child. It was not immediately clear if the gun was accidently fired by the deputy.
It was only a matter of time until this happened. When you combine inadequate weapons training, an almost complete absence of consequences for wrongdoing, and a standard operating procedure to shoot any dog on sight you have a recipe for an innocent bystander getting shot.
If history is any indicator the offending officer will receive a paid vacation while this story blows over. After the weekly news cycle has forgotten about the kid the officer will return to active duty so he can shoot another kid while attempting to gun down another family pet. Because this is America and taking responsibility for your actions is only for the people without badges.