Hawthorne police pull 3 officers involved in dog shooting incident from the street for their safety

Video: Video of Hawthorne dog being shot by police Note: This video contains graphic footage of the shooting and aftermath. Viewer discretion advised.
Heated reaction: Hawthorne police take brunt of reader anger in dog shooting
Original story: Hawthorne police kill dog during arrest of owner, video of shooting goes viral

Three police officers appearing in a video in which one shoots and kills a dog as they arrested its owner in Hawthorne were pulled from street duty on Wednesday following numerous death threats against them and their families, police said.

The decision to assign the officers to duties within the station for their safety followed an inundation of threats over the telephone, on Facebook and in emails, Hawthorne police Lt. Scott Swain said.

The vitriol followed the Sunday incident at 137th Street and Jefferson Avenue during which the Rottweiler was shot after lunging at the officers. The dog had reacted aggressively after officers handcuffed its owner, Leon Rosby of Hawthorne, for allegedly causing a disturbance

toward the end of a nearly two-hour police operation to arrest a suspected robber holed up in a house.

By Wednesday afternoon, the video was closing in on 3 million views.

“I understand that people have been affected by this video. Anyone would be,” Swain said. “The police officers involved are affected by this incident and having to kill a dog. I don’t understand how it translates into an eye for an eye. ‘We are going to kill you and your family because of this incident.’ Like in my case. I wasn’t even working that night.”

As Swain talked on the phone with this newspaper, his office line beeped repeatedly. Swain, the agency’s public information officer, has been the target of some of the threats just for appearing in the news. He said his telephone has not stopped ringing.

“There’s a lot of calls coming in where people are calling us names and dog killers,” Swain said. “They are entitled to their opinions and to make comments like that, but where you cross the line is when you make the threat against the safety of police officers and police officers’ family members.”

Most of the calls were from people offering opinions, but some threats deemed “valid” are under investigation by other law enforcement agencies, Swain said. Officers in the field have been told to be “extra vigilant.”

“There’s been death threats. You’d like to believe that maybe some of the people are just venting, but then you’ve got to be realistic — there are crazy people out there,” Swain said.

One of the officers involved in the Sunday arrest was working Tuesday night when he was confronted by someone who said, “Hey, you’re the officer involved in the dog incident,’ ” Swain said. The confrontation did not escalate.

Besides pulling the involved officers from street duty, “the department has taken actions to make sure that the officers that are receiving the deaths threats are protected and are safe,” Swain said. He declined to elaborate.

In a letter to the community, Hawthorne Police Chief Robert Fager said one officer who was reported on some social media sites as the shooter was not the officer who fired the fatal bullets.

“I wish to reassure all that this matter is being addressed in the most appropriate manner demanded and afforded. I ask for all to look no farther than into our own community for the true reality of our partnerships and efforts that we apply daily in safeguarding our citizens,” Fager said. “The Hawthorne Police Department will be accountable to its constituents and to our actions — please allow us to fulfill such. We truly sympathize with the feelings and impact suffered by all who have witnessed this incident.”

At the police station, officers, sergeants and lieutenants have been answering an influx of calls that began Monday when a cellphone video showing the police officer shooting the Rottweiler appeared on YouTube.

Although the number of emails and comments coming in to the agency since then contributed to the crash of the city of Hawthorne’s website, the Hawthorne Police Department’s Facebook page remains online. On the page — normally a place where police offer crime prevention tips and schedules for Neighborhood Watch meetings — thousands of people have posted angry and threatening messages about the dog shooting on earlier “status updates” that show officers reading to children, enjoying coffee with residents and talking to senior citizens.

“I hope the officer is proud of himself,” Matthew Metcalf wrote. “I hope he has crying children at home wondering why they have such an evil father. And I hope the rest of his family disowns him. He deserves no better than a life of shame, poverty and hatred from everyone. You have single handled disgusted the entire country!”

A May 26 post honoring Hawthorne police Officer Andrew Garton, who was killed two years ago in a motorcycle crash in Torrance, turned Monday from a place to offer condolences into a stream of nasty comments.

“Better to have served honorable and died early, than to have been part of a department so full of greed and corruption,” Eric Beasley wrote. “Enjoy your time in Heaven, Officer Garton.”

Daniel Drobish wrote: “If your boys like playing with their guns so much, we should ship THEM over to Afghanistan. Then GOOD men and women won’t have to die!”

On a post about a “Coffee with a Cop” program, where police meet the public at a McDonalds restaurant to talk about their concerns, Keith McMahon wrote: “Throw the hot coffee in their faces!!!” He followed it with “I’ll have coffee with ya! I’ll poison you so you die a slow painful death … !”

Wrote Debra Smith: “I will have coffee with these cops, if the coffee is heated to boiling and I can pour it on their trigger fingers.”

Down the street from the Hawthorne police station, dispatchers at the South Bay Regional Public Communications Authority, which answers emergency and non-emergency phone calls for Hawthorne and other departments, were receiving about 75 phone calls an hour, up from the normal 10, operations manager Shannon Kauffman said.

Most callers, many from out of state and the country, wanted to offer opinions and were redirected to the Hawthorne Police Department.

On Monday evening, when the video first hit the Internet, the dispatch center received 950 calls in eight hours.

“We’ve had several people calling in bogus calls for service as well (as)reporting things that aren’t happening,” Kauffman said. “We’ve had a few bomb threats.”

Even the Daily Breeze has received several angry emails directed at the Hawthorne police.

“Just thought you might like to know that the video of Hawthorne cops murdering a mans dog has caused outrage here in England,” Ray Ingram said. “Why are the police so bloody trigger happy over there, and thank God I live in the most civilised country in the world, the UK.”

In my own personal opinion why was this man arrested in the first place?  the cop said “creating a desterbence” But the reality was this man was videotaping the crime seene whch he had every right to do as an amarican citizen.  I personaly hope the department gets sued big time for this and the they get no rest from the public untill this man if fired from the polece force.  It is sickning that these dog shootings just keep happening on a regular bases.  These officers feel this is over reacting but the reality is the people are sick of the abuse of power this is not the first time this has happened but I hope to God its the last time.