I probably like cops less than anyone on the boards. I will give examples at the end, but this is my thought on the situation.
It is a dog. I care deeply for my animals, but it is just that. The cops life is worth alot more than an animals. He may or may not be a jerk. Heck it really does not matter. What person is not a jerk from time to time?????? Does that mean you should be shot? Wait don\'t answer that

I believe this is a two way street. If a cop lets a dog out on you, and you hurt the dog they should not charge you with assault on a police officer.
So far as the cops actions. As much as I hate to say it. It is within his right to do so. Cops have alot of room to move around here. If you so much as touch them, it is assault. It\'s a messed up world.
Now for a few cop stories. In the county that I leave there was a cop killed a few years ago. The reason was that a policeman pulled over the same individual everytime he saw him, and beat the living daylights out of him then let him go. One night the guy decided he had enough. So when he got pulled over he pulled out a gun, and started shooting. The kicker of the story is that the cop that pulled him over was not the jerk cop that pulled him over all the time. An innocent cop was killed while a whatever survived to see another day. The shooter received the death penalty if my memory serves me right.
The cops have personally affected me more than one time also. Let me get this out of the way upfront. I have never been arrested so obviously I was not doing anything. I can not count how many times I have been pulled over in the past 10 years. Most of it was attributed to the way I looked. (Think long hair hippie.) I have been told that if I so much as moved I would be a blood spot on the pavement, if I was lying to the cop he would pound my head in before taking me to jail, and my vehicle searched more than I have masturbated. Urm maybe not that much but alot believe me on that. Not to mention I have a gun pointed at me a ridiculous amount of times. It has angered me quite a bit, and I even called to report the cop. Nothing has ever come to it, and never will. When I get pulled over now I want to run in the worst sort of way. I have an extreme fear of guns, and the cops pulling them on an innocent civilian is unbearable. I have heard a state trooper say that newer cops are making it dangerous for the rest of them. end rant