The Tuesday meeting would have
been the first time the public could address the council about the dog shooting
The Hawthorne City Council
canceled its meeting Tuesday night after the city's website crashed because of
public outcry over a viral video of a police officer shooting a dog.
Tuesday’s meeting would have
been the first time the public could address council members directly about the
incident.
Anonymous posted a YouTube
video directed at the department last week, saying “we do not forgive…we do not
forget,” regarding the incident where an officer fatally shot a pet dog in the
street.
The department has said the dog
was a threat to officers who had done all they could to avoid killing the dog.
The incident sparked protests
outside of the Hawthorne Police Department Saturday.
The city clerk’s office told
NBC4 that the regularly scheduled meeting would be canceled because it is
required by the state open meeting law -- known as the Brown Act -- to publicly
post the agenda prior to meeting.
"As you are aware, due to
the public maelstrom of emotion caused by the police incident involving the
Rottweiler, the city website crashed. The website has been down for nearly one
week," said Mayor Daniel Juarez in an email to NBC4. "The Brown Act
requires that city council agendas shall be posted on the 'local agency’s
Internet Web site, if the local agency has one.'"
In Anonymous' video addressed
to the Hawthorne Police Department, the narrator says the officer’s actions
were “unacceptable” and the department was now Anonymous' "primary
target."
The incident that sparked the
controversy occurred on Sunday, June 30, as Leon Cordell Rosby walked his dog
and lingered near a police scene at 137th Street and Jefferson Avenue. Rosby
was shooting video at the time, and police had asked him to leave.
Rosby placed his pet
Rottweiler, Max, in a car and placed his hands behind his back so officers
could handcuff him.
The car’s windows were down and
the dog escaped, as seen at right.
NBC4’s Facebook fans debated
the dog’s intentions, saying Max was defending his owner. Others said the owner
is to blame for not locking up his pet properly.
The shooting was posted to
Youtube (Warning: Disturbing Content), and has since garnered more than 4.7
million views.
Calls and threats have flooded
into the Hawthorne Police Department, according to earlier reports. Rosby
publicly called for the threats to stop, saying "all police officers are
not bad."
The next regularly scheduled
City Council meeting will be held on July 22, according to the city clerk’s
office.