Raiders player under investigation for taunting police dog before Steelers game, officials say

[alp227]

Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

An Oakland Raiders football player is under investigation by the Allegheny County Sheriff's Office after it says he taunted a police dog before Sunday’s Steelers-Raiders game at Heinz Field.

The player lifted his shirt, beat his chest and barked at the dog before telling a female K-9 deputy to release the German shepherd, Chief Deputy Kevin Kraus said.

The encounter happened in a corridor between the locker room and field, as the uniformed team was getting ready to take the field, he said.

Chief Deputy Kraus said the handler was not harassed, but rather that the player directed his attention to the police dog.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/local/region/2015/11/10/Oakland-Raiders-player-under-investigation-for-taunting-Sheriff-s-Office-police-dog-before-Pittsburgh-Steelers-game/stories/201511100179

[AngryAmish]

1. That is not a crime.

[christx30]

3. It actually is:

Title 18
§ 5511.2. Police animals.
(a) Illegal to taunt police animals.—It shall be unlawful for any person to willfully or maliciously taunt, torment, tease, beat, kick or strike a police animal. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this subsection commits a felony of the third degree.

[AngryAmish]

5. If a dog can charge you with drug possession...then nevermind.

[LanternWaste]

20. I'd move the goalposts too...

I'd move the goalposts too...

[ieoeja]

24. It's called a joke.

AngryAmish appears to find it insane that this really is a law.

Actually, the law makes sense. These animals are trained to be aggressive. They don't want anything fucking up that training.

That said, grabbing people and pounding them into the ground is illegal too. But not if you're playing football. Getting aggressively riled up is also part of the game. So they should let this go.

But it does serve to get the word out there that this sort of thing is illegal. I imagine most people are shocked to learn that is so.

[Sunlei]

18. In America, "Land of Over Sensitive Police" what he did is a Felony charge.

[groundloop]

2. What will he be charged with..... acting childish?

[Purveyor]

4. Oh FFS. Have they nothing better to do? nt

[Skittles]

6. stupid, but doesn't really sound criminal

[bluedigger]

7. Are they going to extradite him for that?

Or are they just looking to publicize that it's against the law to mess with K-9 cops?

[Hoppy]

8. If I was on the jury, I would want the dog to testify.

Absent that, no conviction.

[DBoon]

9. Is molesting a duck a crime as well?

http://molestaduck.ytmnd.com/

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

10. If it was a Raider from the 70's or 80's, he would have bit the damn dog. n/m

[Angleae]

11. And given the dog rabies.

[weaselbit]

13. He would have just ate the dog and spit out the collar.

[LanternWaste]

21. Or if a current player in the NFL...

Or if a current player in the NFL, simply have the dogs bite each other while in a cage, and charge people to see it.

[weaselbit]

12. who the hell puts sheriffs with dogs near the opposing team?

Why was there a sheriff with a dog anywhere near the Raiders when they're in the hall getting ready to go on the field?
They said the dog was there to sniff for bombs.
No reason to have it anywhere near the opposing team's players unless you're attempting to intimidate and maybe provoke a response.
Looks like she got one.

Football players get nuts before a game. It's what they do.
Opposing players shouldn't be subjected to sheriffs with aggressive police dogs in close proximity.

No doubt his response was over the top.

But he may have also been reacting to, "What the hell is a f--ing police dog doing here in the entrance hall when we're getting ready to take the field? Who the hell does this?"

[imthevicar]

14. You Know the Dog and Female Cop were

there to take the MOJO away from them, this guy flipped the script. Well Done That Player!

[wordpix]

16. probably b/c fans can be drunk, crazy & try to hug & kiss players

[LeftyMom]

25. Fans have no access to players in the tunnels under the stadium in any facility I've ever seen.

I accidentally got off the wrong elevator exit once and wound up outside an empty training room, and security was all over me like white on rice on a paper plate in a snowstorm.

[Sunlei]

17. can't they train their police dogs to ignore people acting a tiny bit 'strange'? fucking EASY to do.

[Evergreen Emerald]

19. And if the dog responded by attacking him imagine the uproar on DU

Sure, taunt the dog, but then don't complain when the results are exactly what you would expect.

[LanternWaste]

22. You expect professionally trained dogs to bite people who verbally taunt them?

You expect professionally trained dogs to bite people who verbally taunt them?

[Evergreen Emerald]

23. I expect them to respond to threats. And it was more than verbal.