Police officer pepper spraying a baby squirrel story

[cat and bear]

A police officer who thought he was deterring a possibly rabid baby squirrel by pepper-spraying it got sprayed himself with bad publicity as horrified children looked on, screaming and pleading for him to stop.

The incident Wednesday at Kimbrough Middle School in Mesquite, Texas, was partially captured on camera with a 36-second clip shared on YouTube. Mesquite police said the officer was involved because of reports the animal was behaving very erratically, which might have been a sign of rabies. Before we go any further, you should know: Despite the squirrel's slight disorientation after being sprayed (as shown in the video), it is apparently fine.

School administrators called Mesquite Animal Control about the squirrel, according to CBSDFW.com, "and a technician picked it up and cleaned the pepper spray off of it before returning it to the wild."

The officer, however, may not be fine. The Mesquite Police Department says it's reviewing the case.

— Via Gawker

[cat and bear]

Im glad, I'm not counting on this guy to protect me, in a situation

[Hagerman]

Them baby squirrels can be treacherous.
If this guy can't tell the difference with the baby squirrel imagine what he would be capable of with your wife or kids.
Doesn't quite give the warm fuzzy feeling of "Protect and Serve".

[StrawberryMt]

Come now guys you forget"Everything is bigger in Texas"

[Lost River]

Never know, sumbitch mighta been going for his nuts?

[StrawberryMt]

Never know, sumbitch mighta been going for his nuts?

Almost spit my tea on the screen lmao

[coop74]

I still say I.Q. tests should be mandatory.

[pegleg]

[Lost River]

Well I sit on a board that reviews resume's and packets for ladies and gents applying to be cops. I can tell you after 18 years of being a proffesional donut eater, IQ tests and written tests are a pretty poor barometer for how someone is going to perform as a cop. Not saying I want to see low IQ cops for sure, but have seen people that have high IQ's but the common sense factor seems to have escaped them. Who knows, this guy might be Einsteen when it comes to tackling a rubicks cube, but when it comes to pepper spraying a squirrel in front of a host of kids, well... you get my point.

[coop74]

Lost river i hear you. I should have been more specific, an I.Q. test for real people.You know the one that includes common sense,such as asking them how to climb a tree.Answer one limb at a time!Most booksmart people could not answer that.

[briarpatch]

Are all of you "real People" (book smart or not) who are ridiculing this policeman completely ignoring the fact that the original post made it very clear that the animal was possibly rabid? If it had bitten one of those children what would your position be?

briarpatch

[cat and bear]

Briarpatch, Im not sure how to look up the video on you tube now, but the little squirrel, could fit in the palm of your hand or your shirt pocket. I would think the average third grader boy, would have been able to stomp it. It was in a parking lot or school entrance, bluffing the officer, the average houshould wisk broom, would have sent it half way across the block. Being rampid, was the officers observation, the same one, that needed pepper spray. I Personally think the squirrel was confused, as the officer had no nuts to offer And this guy is going to protect and serve the public, now that is scary

[George Streepy]

The radio talk shows in my area have been going crazy over this. Apparently it was a bad move to pepper spray the squirrel but if the Officer stomped it I can only imagine the media frenzy. All we get to see is the short clip of the stupid squirrel running in and getting sprayed. We don't get to see what happened before (like when he shewed it away repeatedly). I say give the Cop a medal for bravery for facing down the rabid beast and protecting all those defenseless children.

Maybe next time he should just pull his service pistol and empty the clip, that would really make a YouTube video frenzy. Cut the guy some slack, I am not exactly sure what the guy was supposed to do there. Short of picking up the nasty little fury rat and giving it a back massage and the royal treatment on the way to a new tax payer built condo located right outside the schools cafeteria.... everybody gets my point.

Leave the criticising to the HSUS and Paws and Peta and all the other wackos that think the squirrel should be catered to by everyone. What does a cop do with a possibly rabid squirrel?

[cat and bear]

Funny George, leave it up to you, I guess to only top the embarasment, of pepper spray, would be to empty his clip I guess the humor is the thing was so small, my first thought would have been to use a wisk broom, or throw a shirt over it, or even a box, until animal control arrived. If i was worried about the children, and rabies, I sure would not have let them stand behind me, watching, they would have been in a safer place. I just laugh as it was so gutless, maybe sick humor, this type of person is protecting your neighbor hood, and safety, let alone, him being someones parter to count on to cover your back or save your life. The animal control officer must not have thought it was rabies, as they cleaned the pepper spray off, Im sure they didnt do blood work, on the spot to be sure.

[George Streepy]

I get the humor in it. It is just everyone in the media is acting like the officer pepper sprayed the squirrel as some sort of sick animal torture thing. I honestly believe he was afraid to get very close to it. That side of it is funny, and if it was someone I knew I would never let him live it down. I guess it is interesting how these stupid little videos hit the internet and become viral.