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CNN Sunday Morning

Family Vacation Results in Tragedy

Aired January 05, 2003 - 07:24   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A police stop along a highway in Tennessee ends with a family's beloved pet dead, and authorities scrambling to explain what happened.
It all happened on New Year's Day, along Interstate 40 in Cookeville, Tennessee. The Smoak family of North Carolina, was headed home with their dog, which was a pit bull. Michael Cable (ph), of our affiliate WHNS, picks up the story from there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got him for my 16th birthday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every so often, God gives you a gift. The dog was just my soul mate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He loved you from...

MICHAEL CABLE, WHNS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On an unseasonably warm winter day...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone we know loved him.

CABLE: The Smoak family buried their best friend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to miss him a lot.

CABLE: What lead to today's tear filled farewell...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband starts jumping up, and anyway...

CABLE: Started with the simple Smoak family vacation to Tennessee.

PAMELA SMOAK, DOG OWNER: We wanted to take the children back on a quick little Christmas trip, so we could see all the Christmas lights.

CABLE: And ended in I-40 near exit 287, outside Cookeville.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He ordered me to exit the car, with my hands in the air, and walk backwards towards the rear of the car. So, I came back like so, and I got about right in here and he said, "Down on your knees." Well, I got down on my knees like this. He said, "Now, down on your knees facing the rear of the car." So, I had to turn around, my darn knees still sore from being down there. Then he said, "All right, head on the ground." I put my head on the ground, he came back, and he cuffed me, and then he carried me cuffed straight to the back of his car.

CABLE: The Smoaks had been pulled over, and in an instance say, police opened fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Within seconds, no commands to sit, stay, stop, shoo (ph), yah (ph), nothing like that, just blam.

P. SMOAK: What, but maybe a second after he got out there, maybe two seconds after he got out there and barked, he went, woof, woof, and he just blew his head off.

CABLE: The Smoaks' year-and-a-half-old pit bull Patton was dead, shot once in the head.

P. SMOAK: And my son's sitting in front of me, and you know, he's just looking at all this, and you know, seeing -- anyway, and he just falls over and starts screaming crying, saying "Oh, God, Patton."

CABLE: Pamela, James, and their 17-year-old son Brandon were handcuffed and detained in separate squad cars, with no clue what was going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to innocent until proven guilty? I mean, they just, they put guns at our heads -- it's just crazy.

CABLE: After an hour in the dark, demanding answers along Interstate 40 outside Cookeville, the arresting officers offered an apology.

P. SMOAK: He said, "Ma'am, we're getting ready to let you go, we -- we've made a mistake." And I just said, "A mistake -- I said, you've murdered my dog, you've thrown me and my son and my husband in handcuffs all over the ground, and you've made a mistake?"

CABLE: The mistake, the Smoaks say, was the police mistaking them for armed robbers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it's a tragedy, I mean, we are a family on vacation, we're supposed to be having fun.

CABLE: After James Smoak's misplaced wallet flew from the roof of the family car, and a nearby motorist called police fearing they had just witnessed a robbery.

P. SMOAK: And I'm like -- Oh, my God -- they found it, and just start assuming it's a robbery, and there's this big screw-up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God gave me a gift, that became my soul mate, and they've taken him away from me, they've murdered him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Police say the dog approached the officer aggressively and he had to shoot to gain control of the situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. NATHAN HONEYCUTT, COOKEVILLE, TN POLICE: Our officers believed that it was a dangerous situation for them and the troopers, that there was reason to be extremely on guard and then, unfortunately when that dog came out of the car and proceeded as you can read from the statement, that it did come to Officer Hall (ph), and he tried several other ways to keep from doing what he finally had to do, and then had no choice but to shoot the animal. And it's very unfortunate for all of us. We feel really bad for the family and we feel bad for Officer Hall (ph) too, that was put in that situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The family has filed a complaint about the incident.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired January 5, 2003 - 07:24   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: A police stop along a highway in Tennessee ends with a family's beloved pet dead, and authorities scrambling to explain what happened.
It all happened on New Year's Day, along Interstate 40 in Cookeville, Tennessee. The Smoak family of North Carolina, was headed home with their dog, which was a pit bull. Michael Cable (ph), of our affiliate WHNS, picks up the story from there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got him for my 16th birthday.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every so often, God gives you a gift. The dog was just my soul mate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He loved you from...

MICHAEL CABLE, WHNS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On an unseasonably warm winter day...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everyone we know loved him.

CABLE: The Smoak family buried their best friend.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm going to miss him a lot.

CABLE: What lead to today's tear filled farewell...

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My husband starts jumping up, and anyway...

CABLE: Started with the simple Smoak family vacation to Tennessee.

PAMELA SMOAK, DOG OWNER: We wanted to take the children back on a quick little Christmas trip, so we could see all the Christmas lights.

CABLE: And ended in I-40 near exit 287, outside Cookeville.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He ordered me to exit the car, with my hands in the air, and walk backwards towards the rear of the car. So, I came back like so, and I got about right in here and he said, "Down on your knees." Well, I got down on my knees like this. He said, "Now, down on your knees facing the rear of the car." So, I had to turn around, my darn knees still sore from being down there. Then he said, "All right, head on the ground." I put my head on the ground, he came back, and he cuffed me, and then he carried me cuffed straight to the back of his car.

CABLE: The Smoaks had been pulled over, and in an instance say, police opened fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Within seconds, no commands to sit, stay, stop, shoo (ph), yah (ph), nothing like that, just blam.

P. SMOAK: What, but maybe a second after he got out there, maybe two seconds after he got out there and barked, he went, woof, woof, and he just blew his head off.

CABLE: The Smoaks' year-and-a-half-old pit bull Patton was dead, shot once in the head.

P. SMOAK: And my son's sitting in front of me, and you know, he's just looking at all this, and you know, seeing -- anyway, and he just falls over and starts screaming crying, saying "Oh, God, Patton."

CABLE: Pamela, James, and their 17-year-old son Brandon were handcuffed and detained in separate squad cars, with no clue what was going on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What happened to innocent until proven guilty? I mean, they just, they put guns at our heads -- it's just crazy.

CABLE: After an hour in the dark, demanding answers along Interstate 40 outside Cookeville, the arresting officers offered an apology.

P. SMOAK: He said, "Ma'am, we're getting ready to let you go, we -- we've made a mistake." And I just said, "A mistake -- I said, you've murdered my dog, you've thrown me and my son and my husband in handcuffs all over the ground, and you've made a mistake?"

CABLE: The mistake, the Smoaks say, was the police mistaking them for armed robbers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And it's a tragedy, I mean, we are a family on vacation, we're supposed to be having fun.

CABLE: After James Smoak's misplaced wallet flew from the roof of the family car, and a nearby motorist called police fearing they had just witnessed a robbery.

P. SMOAK: And I'm like -- Oh, my God -- they found it, and just start assuming it's a robbery, and there's this big screw-up.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: God gave me a gift, that became my soul mate, and they've taken him away from me, they've murdered him.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Police say the dog approached the officer aggressively and he had to shoot to gain control of the situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAPT. NATHAN HONEYCUTT, COOKEVILLE, TN POLICE: Our officers believed that it was a dangerous situation for them and the troopers, that there was reason to be extremely on guard and then, unfortunately when that dog came out of the car and proceeded as you can read from the statement, that it did come to Officer Hall (ph), and he tried several other ways to keep from doing what he finally had to do, and then had no choice but to shoot the animal. And it's very unfortunate for all of us. We feel really bad for the family and we feel bad for Officer Hall (ph) too, that was put in that situation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: The family has filed a complaint about the incident.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com