Poodles v. the School Cop - No Winners

Let's make this very clear - Jessica LaShae Dye is no angel. A quick Google search indicates that the woman called "Poodles" has at least 15 custodial arrests between 2013 and now, an average of three a year. Some of these arrests were for drugs, while others were for failing to appear in local municipal courts. We do not sympathize with Poodles in the least for these arrests. 

Let's also make clear that we support police officers whether they be state, county, city, or campus. That doesn't mean these officers are perfect, but they do face possible danger almost every day they report for work. Do you? Would you be willing to for the pay these officers receive? No, we thought not.

That brings us to the night of the traffic stop at which Poodles was shot six times. Of perhaps she was technically shot only five times since a bullet may have traveled through her arm into her lung. Either way, Poodles was shot quite a few times at fairly close range to have survived. Bad on her for her choices, but good on her for having the will to live!

Often important details are left out of crime reports, so we're not sure what actually happened the night of the fateful traffic stop. Perhaps the grand jury was told, but the public is still quite uninformed. This is what we've been told:

1. A UNA police officer stopped Poodles for driving erratically (as well he should have) and had her pull over into a university parking lot.

2. The officer checked Poodles' vehicle registration number, discovered that she had active warrants, and then asked her to step out of the vehicle. Here is where we make our first assumption. We're assuming the officer is standing somewhat to the rear of Poodles on the driver's side of the vehicle. This would not be behind the vehicle, now would it?

3. Instead of exiting her car as requested, Poodles allegedly placed it in reverse and accelerated toward the officer. Now, a question: How/Why did the officer get behind Poodles' car?

4. The officer fired his gun at least five times, probably at least six, and maybe more since  the public has not been informed if any shots hit the vehicle, but missed Poodles. 

5. The officer approached Poodles again, this time to give her aid, but she placed her car in gear and drove forward, hitting the officer's car in the process, then driving seriously injured south on Pine Street until she crashed, ostensibly on her way to the hospital. 

Our only question here is noted in our No. 3 remark. How did the officer wind up behind Poodles' vehicle in the first place? If any readers have an insight into this, please contact us. As always, you'll remain anonymous.

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Poodles Posing Pensively

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We know that, according to Poodles' family, she has retained an attorney to represent her. Any civil suit that the attorney may file is separate from any criminal matter. In other words, Poodles could be found guilty of a criminal charge in this incident, but the officer could be found guilty in a civil case...or perhaps a federal civil rights case. We're very interested to see just what lawsuits are filed.

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Poodles, if you're reading this, let us speak to you as a Dutch aunt. You're still very young. You've permanently closed some doors to opportunity already in your life, but many are still open. Please get some help. Please? We believe you can do it. Buckle down and show your detractors just what you're made of...

Puddles Probably Sans Pity for Poodles

From a reader:

Do you think "Poodles" has a chance to win a lawsuit?

Our answer: We may be off on some of the details of this similar incident, but not many...

The officer saw the man driving erratically in his attempt to beat the traffic. He turned on his blue lights and stopped the black male driver. The driver then saw that the officer was a game warden and drove off. The game warden again gave pursuit until the driver stopped a second time. As the driver attempted to retrieve his license, the game warden felt threatened and shot the man dead. The driver's family portrayed him as the injured party and eventually won some kind of lawsuit.

Wrongful death lawsuits are civil and are usually heard by a jury. So, yes, anything is possible in these cases. Yet even if Poodles should win, she will still be facing legal consequences for her actions. A Florence man was recently sentenced to life in prison for attempting to murder a police officer; Poodles may fare no better

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From another reader:

Your blog is not only informative but a source of entertainment for me. I have really enjoyed reading about poodles lately. I don't know if you know this or not but there is actually a band called puddles pity party. I'm not joking. They're going to be in Birmingham sometime this year and I saw it on Ticketmasters website. I just thought that you might want to use that tidbit in your blog some time. Maybe they're trying to raise money for her to defense!

SAT JUL 29 8PM Puddles Pity Party Iron City Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 

 

Our answer:

 

Yes, we've certainly heard of Puddles, in fact due to another member of our blog. Perhaps Puddles would do a show for Poodles...uh, no, we're guessing no. 

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What's Deaf, Dumb, & Blind and Costs 3.5 Million Dollars?

 

 

 

 

Poodles' Family Has Lawyered Up

First, we'll correct a comment we made on a FB post yesterday. Jessica LaShae Dye isn't married as we stated. She had previously been involved in DV/Assault with a man we believed to be her husband, but who is actually an immediate family member. Sources say he's retained an attorney or is looking for one.

As to shots fired by the UNA officer, we've heard as few as six with three hitting Ms. Dye. Family members who have contacted us are adamant the woman known as Poodles was hit nine times out of 14 shots fired. Ms. Dye was hit twice in the right arm, twice in a lung, and one shot grazed her head. Four other shots may be classified as flesh wounds, one in the left hand. 

Ms. Dye is very lucky to be alive. We hope there is some dash cam or body cam footage, but we reiterate that no one should ever attempt to flee from police. If you can't respect the person, respect the uniform. We'll add that going to jail for a few hours or even days is much preferable to being hospitalized for weeks or months while in severe pain.

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What do drugs do to a person? Here are photos taken five years apart: 

How bad is anyone's life that they want to start doing drugs? No matter who is to blame for the UNA shooting, it wouldn't have happened if Poodles had been thinking rationally in the first place.

Bubba Shot the Jukebox...and Poodles

By now most of our readers know that a UNA police officer shot the operator of a motor vehicle early Sunday morning. Rumors and assumptions abound; let's look at them along with questions from our readers.

* Is the UNA Police page down on FB? It appears to be, but we don't know why.

* How many times was the driver, Jessica LaShae Dye, shot? The unconfirmed report is six.

* How many times did the officer fire his weapon? Apparently more than six.

* Was the driver black? No, she was a 28 year-old white female.

* Why was the driver identified and not the officer? Possibly the easiest answer is that ALEA can do as it chooses in the investigation.

* Is the press blaming the officer? We haven't seen that. We saw a few comments as to why an article would call Dye a victim. One of the meanings of the word "victim" is someone to whom something has happened. There are apparently two victims (or one victim and one would-be victim) in this instance - both Dye and the officer were on the receiving end of an action according to initial reports. 

* People are saying Dye, aka Poodles, wasn't doing drugs when pulled over. People can say anything. We will say that Poodles has quite a record of drug arrests and if she wasn't on drugs at the time of the incident, she is incredibly stupid. Actually, she's incredibly stupid either way.

* Where was the officer standing when Poodles attempted to run over him? We've saved this question for last. Initial reports, which are usually wrong on some facts, have said the officer checked Poodles for warrants after pulling her over for speeding. When he found she was wanted, he asked her to step out of the car and she then tried to run him down. 

Now think about that. When an officer speaks to you after you've been pulled over, where does he stand? Just a thought...

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Prayers for both the officer and Poodles and her family.