Situation unfolded in
North Carolina.
A North Carolina cop resigned after
coming under fire for
violently mishandling his canine.
So this is Salisbury Police Officer
James Hampton.
He tendered his resignation after
the department recommended him for
termination following an external
investigation.
And this is according to police in
a news release.
Hampton was allowed to resign
following a due process hearing.
And this is according to department
policy.
Now, there's a very real reason why
I'm bringing this story up because
of course,
we've talked about police brutality
quite a bit on this show.
But he was caught on camera abusing
this animal, and we have video.
I personally,
haven't even seen the video yet.
I'm guessing it's going to be
difficult to watch, so I wanted to
give you guys some warning.
But with that said,
let's take a look.
>> [INAUDIBLE] Sit
[BLANK
AUDIO] >> We're good, no witnesses.
[INAUDIBLE] >> Is your camera on?
>> No, my camera is off.
>> I think mine's on.
[INAUDIBLE] >> So
that was a video that TMZ obtained,
and you heard it right.
You hear someone in the background
saying, we're good, no witnesses,
because it's clear that the way
that he's handling the dog.
Look, I can't watch it again,
please, take it down.
The way he's handling the dog is
awful.
So they did investigation
immediately, and they recommended
him for termination, and
gave him an opportunity to resign.
And he resigned.
It's amazing.
Look, he should resign.
He has no business being a cop.
And clearly, if he's willing to
treat animals that way,
I would venture to say that he's
vicious toward humans as well.
But what's fascinating is,
Jayar Jackson, always brings up
the point about how humans are far
kinder to animals than they are to
their fellow humans.
And it's certainly the case based
on the police brutality that we've
witnessed in countless videos
toward actual living,
breathing human beings.
And there's usually no consequence
for it, but in this case,
swift consequences.
>> Yeah, there's definitely
that weird double standard that
bears repeating.
I'm not saying it's okay to do this
to dogs, but there's plenty of
people who don't get publicly
shamed into resigning after they,
for example, put their knee on
someone's neck until they die.
That's that.
The other thing is,
there's an amazing article from
Gizmodo that I found about
whether we need police dogs.
I mean, and a lot of the evidence
is that we do not.
I've met one of the most
technologically advanced for
military dogs in the world.
They actually implant a microchip
in its chest that they activate by
playing a radio frequency, and
they monitor its vitals.
In battlefield situations,
as they go in and sniff out bombs,
or they attack people.
That's a dog.
And I hung out with this dog, and
just the energy I felt
from this dog.
The guy had to stop the interview
at a certain point.
He's like, the dog is angry that he
hasn't killed anyone, yet.
And that's what they do to the dog.
Do they need to do it?
The Supreme Court upheld
a situation.
They referenced the dog's training.
There have been examples of people,
absolutely, they bring
a dog out and
tell it to do an open-air sniff.
The dog is wrong half the time,
which is a coin flip.
But the Supreme Court upholds that
if the dog is trained right, and
whether it's right or wrong,
however much,
they can still use it as evidence.
Everything that you think you know
about using police dogs is proven
to be unnecessary and false.
So I just don't know why we
need them at all.
>> No, it's a great point.
And I remember TYT having
a lengthy debate about this.
I wasn't part of that debate.
Cenk Uygur and Ben Mankiewicz
were covering that story.
It's early days of TYT.
Ben went a little far.
He questions the intelligence of
dogs, which I think, obviously,
I disagree with that.
But in terms of using canines for
evidence or evidence real purposes
in criminal cases, yeah,
there are too many flaws,
too many issues there.
And I think a lot of people don't
know about that.
But I agree with you.
I mean, I have a hard time
believing that it's necessary to
use animals the way that they
are being used by police officials
across the country.
I have a problem with the way
they're being used for evidence.
And I certainly have a problem with
the way that that particular cop
was treating this animal.
I'm glad that he got fired.
I just wish that we would
extend that to humans as well.