The Merced Police Department no longer will take “severely injured” animals to the department’s shooting range to be put to death by gunfire, said Lt. Bimley West during a news conference Tuesday.
The policy, which West estimated had been in place for more than 25 years, allowed officers to take injured animals to the range on Gove Road to be put down.
The Merced Police Department’s policy was scrutinized after a dog-shooting incident in June was reported by the Sun-Star. Merced resident Payton Sanchez’s pit bull was shot by an officer in the 2600 block of Mira Court. The police officer claimed it had charged at him.
Unable to afford medical care, the family brought the dog back to the police station. A second officer took the injured dog to the shooting range and fatally shot it according to police policy, reports confirmed.
West said Tuesday that the change in policy was prompted by community outcry after another article about the policy in the Sun-Star last week.
“Although there were a number of misconceptions and mistruths that circulated from this article, it did give us an opportunity to revisit our method used in putting down severely injured animals,” West said. “We are going to change our policy.”
The new policy will require police officers to call the nearest veterinarian to come to the scene of an injured animal and evaluate its condition. The veterinarian will determine if the animal should be put to sleep or given medical treatment.
If the veterinarian decides an animal should be put to sleep because of its injuries, he or she will euthanize the animal using an injection.
“The evaluation will be made by a vet,” West said. “Our Police Department officers will no longer dispatch an animal due to the severity of its injuries.”
The only time officers will shoot animals is if they are being attacked, West said.
The Police Department hasn’t signed a contract with a local veterinarian, but West said officers will contact the closest one and stay with the animal until the vet arrives. The 24-hour Animal Medical Center on Yosemite Avenue will be used for after-hours calls.
Merced Mayor Stan Thurston called the policy change a “very positive” one, but expressed concerns about getting local veterinarians to agree to the plan while keeping the city’s costs low.
“I hope we can get vets to do that and work out an agreement to minimize costs,” Thurston said. “We’ll try to keep the costs down as much as possible and not have to burden the police officers with the mental trauma of having to shoot an animal.”
Thurston said he’s working with City Manager John Bramble to start a campaign to get local veterinarians to be on-call on a rotating basis, with a different veterinarian’s office being used every 30 days.
Mayor Pro Tem Noah Lor said Tuesday that he felt the police chief made a good decision, and said it will be a more humane way to euthanize injured animals.
“I think this is a good thing for us to move ahead and make that change,” Lor said. “We’re going to need some future discussion and input from the community, but for now, this is a good step forward.”
Merced resident Jules Comeyne, a former officer for the ASPCA, urged elected officials to consider changing the policy during the City Council meeting Monday.
“I would like to voice displeasure of the police taking animals over to the range and shooting them,” Comeyne said. “This has received a lot of negative publicity from all over the country.”
Several others voiced support during the council meeting that led to changing the policy.
West did not say if the Police Department had been contacted by animal rights groups, but indicated it had received numerous calls from residents who “didn’t like the method” of shooting severely injured animals.
“Our citizens have stated the times have changed and it’s time that we make a change,” West said Tuesday. “They have spoken. We have heard them clearly, and we have made a change in our policy.”
After the news conference Tuesday, West said there was a sense of relief among the police officers who did not want to shoot injured animals at the range. Many of them are pet owners, he said.
“I believe there is a sense of relief because it’s not pleasurable for our officers to do that,” West said, adding that the policy change is effective immediately.
http://www.sacbee.com/2013/09/17/5745151/merced-police-changes-its-policy.html
Showing posts with label CA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CA. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 26, 2013
Richmond pays $210K to owners of dog shot dead by cops
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2007-05-31 11:12:00 PDT RICHMOND -- The city of Richmond has agreed to pay $225,000 to settle two federal civil rights lawsuits filed in connection with the controversial shooting death of a pit bull.
Cynthia Peters and Mark Parr accused officers of acting in "reckless and callous disregard" of their constitutional rights when police shot their 1-1/2-year-old pit bull, Blu, on July 27, 2005.
The Richmond City Council agreed to pay $210,000 to the couple and an additional $15,000 to Genevia Walker, a bystander who also sued the city in federal court, saying her neck was burned when three bullet casings fired by an officer hit her neck and left her temporarily unable to hear.
"We're happy with the way the case was resolved," Karen Snell, an attorney for Peters and Parr, said today.
Blu was in the couple's fenced yard on Sixth Street when the officers opened the gate to pursue a suspect and shot the dog 11 times with pistols and a shotgun.
When Parr ran up and asked the officers, "Why'd you shoot my dog?" police "pointed their guns at him, kicked and punched him and threw him to the ground," according to the lawsuit filed by the couple in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
Police arrested Parr on suspicion of obstructing police officers, but no charges were filed.
An internal investigation by the police department found no fault with the officers; the couple appealed. The Police Commission in February 2006 ruled in their favor and attributed Blu's death to insufficient departmental guidelines for handling such situations.
In court papers, the city said "the destruction" of Blu was necessary and therefore reasonable, that the force used against Parr was reasonable and that his arrest was lawful.
In an unusual move, Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus apologized to the couple. Magnus told The Chronicle last year that his apology doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't support his officers, but that owning up to Blu's death was the right thing to do.
"Being sorry that something happened doesn't mean that your people acted in the wrong way," Magnus said.
Richmond police have since drafted a policy specifying when officers can use deadly force against dogs and provided training on how to deal with dogs in general.
The city paid more than $500,000 in 1998 in connection with a lawsuit over another "unnecessary shooting" of a dog named Champ that belonged to James Fuller. Officers entered his yard in 1991 to speak with Fuller and shot the dog during the exchange.
"They did nothing to change their policy until the new chief came along," said Snell, who nevertheless applauded the city for outlining a policy that bars officers from shooting a dog "if there are nonlethal alternatives."
Attorneys for the city of Richmond did not immediately respond to requests for comment today.
Richmond City Councilman Tom Butt said today, "It is regretful that the city was so slow to learn. The adage 'once burned, twice shy' suggests that when someone has had a bad experience, he or she is likely to shy away from being in the same position again, having better learned to deal with similar situations.
"Previous chiefs did not learn. Magnus made the correction to the policy. I think he did the right thing by apologizing."
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Richmond-pays-210K-to-owners-of-dog-shot-dead-by-2558050.php
Cynthia Peters and Mark Parr accused officers of acting in "reckless and callous disregard" of their constitutional rights when police shot their 1-1/2-year-old pit bull, Blu, on July 27, 2005.
The Richmond City Council agreed to pay $210,000 to the couple and an additional $15,000 to Genevia Walker, a bystander who also sued the city in federal court, saying her neck was burned when three bullet casings fired by an officer hit her neck and left her temporarily unable to hear.
"We're happy with the way the case was resolved," Karen Snell, an attorney for Peters and Parr, said today.
Blu was in the couple's fenced yard on Sixth Street when the officers opened the gate to pursue a suspect and shot the dog 11 times with pistols and a shotgun.
When Parr ran up and asked the officers, "Why'd you shoot my dog?" police "pointed their guns at him, kicked and punched him and threw him to the ground," according to the lawsuit filed by the couple in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
Police arrested Parr on suspicion of obstructing police officers, but no charges were filed.
An internal investigation by the police department found no fault with the officers; the couple appealed. The Police Commission in February 2006 ruled in their favor and attributed Blu's death to insufficient departmental guidelines for handling such situations.
In court papers, the city said "the destruction" of Blu was necessary and therefore reasonable, that the force used against Parr was reasonable and that his arrest was lawful.
In an unusual move, Richmond Police Chief Chris Magnus apologized to the couple. Magnus told The Chronicle last year that his apology doesn't necessarily mean he doesn't support his officers, but that owning up to Blu's death was the right thing to do.
"Being sorry that something happened doesn't mean that your people acted in the wrong way," Magnus said.
Richmond police have since drafted a policy specifying when officers can use deadly force against dogs and provided training on how to deal with dogs in general.
The city paid more than $500,000 in 1998 in connection with a lawsuit over another "unnecessary shooting" of a dog named Champ that belonged to James Fuller. Officers entered his yard in 1991 to speak with Fuller and shot the dog during the exchange.
"They did nothing to change their policy until the new chief came along," said Snell, who nevertheless applauded the city for outlining a policy that bars officers from shooting a dog "if there are nonlethal alternatives."
Attorneys for the city of Richmond did not immediately respond to requests for comment today.
Richmond City Councilman Tom Butt said today, "It is regretful that the city was so slow to learn. The adage 'once burned, twice shy' suggests that when someone has had a bad experience, he or she is likely to shy away from being in the same position again, having better learned to deal with similar situations.
"Previous chiefs did not learn. Magnus made the correction to the policy. I think he did the right thing by apologizing."
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Richmond-pays-210K-to-owners-of-dog-shot-dead-by-2558050.php
A police chief in western Kern County has surrendered his guns after local family got a restraining order against him.
A Maricopa resident applied for the temporary restraining order after Chief Gene Fretheim shot and killed her 9-year-old pit bull, and now another woman is considering filing a similar restraining order. The police department says the chief was acting in self-defense.
The temporary restraining order forced Fretheim to hand over his weapons to the Taft Police Department Monday, but a department spokesman said he still is working, just without the weapons.
Lisa Chavez got the order that disarmed the chief. She could not be reached Monday, but her neighbor of 22 years, Lisa Chavez, Rockey Shafer, described what happened the day the dog was shot, and the reaction of Chavez's 11-year-old son, Logan.
"He came up to me that day--he calls me Grandma--and he said, 'Grandma, they killed my dog.'" Shafer said fighting back tears.
Shafer is upset and surprised Maricopa police Chief Fretheim shot and killed the family's pet.
"It was an old pit bull," Shafer said describing the dog. "My sister walks by there every day. She walks her mile in town. The dog just raises up and goes 'woof,' you know just real lazy-like. So the dog was not aggressive."
17 News tried contacting the Chief but was not at the Maricopa Police Department and he wasn't returning calls. Dispatch said they were unable to locate the Chief, however, Sgt. Derek Merritt, who spoke on behalf of the police department, said Fretheim is complying with the temporary restraining order.
"According to the restraining order he can't be in possession,'' of a gun, Merritt said. "So he, from my understanding, has turned his firearms over to the Taft Police Department.''
Yet the case keeps growing. A similar charge is being lodged against the Maricopa Police Department for shooting a different pit bull who the owners say was chained up in the backyard of the house Justin Lewisburch and his girlfriend Heather rent.
"No one left us a permit or anything saying that our dog was to be fined or cited or needed registration or tags or anything like that," Lewisburch said. "It was just one day our dog was dead."
Police say there is more to the story, and told 17 News the owner of the home called them, complaining she couldn't get into the house.
"The people that lived in the house had been evicted and moved out," Merritt explained. "The property owner was trying to make entry into her yard but she couldn't. The dog wouldn't let her in there."
Lewisburch and his girlfriend Heather said they have lived at the home the whole time, and marked up a "beware of dog" sign to the front gate to read, "Beware, they will murder your dog."
Lewisburch and his girlfriend are going to file a restraining order against Maricopa Police.
"I know they illegally trespassed by property illegally and killed my animal," she said.
Meantime, the Maricopa Police Department says the community is going to suffer without an armed police chief.
"The biggest thing is it puts a big strain on the city because in this department, this size the chief wears the uniform on patrol as well as i do and now we are going to be forced to pay officers overtime to cover his shift because you wouldn't want an officer coming to your house without a gun," Sgt Merritt told 17 News.
Chief Fertheim is due in court on October 15, for the initial shooting and current temporary restraining order.
http://www.kerngoldenempire.com/news/local/story/Maricopa-chief-gives-up-his-guns/d/story/0iMsHOhL2Ey5ymHC6Gp5xQ
The temporary restraining order forced Fretheim to hand over his weapons to the Taft Police Department Monday, but a department spokesman said he still is working, just without the weapons.
Lisa Chavez got the order that disarmed the chief. She could not be reached Monday, but her neighbor of 22 years, Lisa Chavez, Rockey Shafer, described what happened the day the dog was shot, and the reaction of Chavez's 11-year-old son, Logan.
"He came up to me that day--he calls me Grandma--and he said, 'Grandma, they killed my dog.'" Shafer said fighting back tears.
Shafer is upset and surprised Maricopa police Chief Fretheim shot and killed the family's pet.
"It was an old pit bull," Shafer said describing the dog. "My sister walks by there every day. She walks her mile in town. The dog just raises up and goes 'woof,' you know just real lazy-like. So the dog was not aggressive."
17 News tried contacting the Chief but was not at the Maricopa Police Department and he wasn't returning calls. Dispatch said they were unable to locate the Chief, however, Sgt. Derek Merritt, who spoke on behalf of the police department, said Fretheim is complying with the temporary restraining order.
"According to the restraining order he can't be in possession,'' of a gun, Merritt said. "So he, from my understanding, has turned his firearms over to the Taft Police Department.''
Yet the case keeps growing. A similar charge is being lodged against the Maricopa Police Department for shooting a different pit bull who the owners say was chained up in the backyard of the house Justin Lewisburch and his girlfriend Heather rent.
"No one left us a permit or anything saying that our dog was to be fined or cited or needed registration or tags or anything like that," Lewisburch said. "It was just one day our dog was dead."
Police say there is more to the story, and told 17 News the owner of the home called them, complaining she couldn't get into the house.
"The people that lived in the house had been evicted and moved out," Merritt explained. "The property owner was trying to make entry into her yard but she couldn't. The dog wouldn't let her in there."
Lewisburch and his girlfriend Heather said they have lived at the home the whole time, and marked up a "beware of dog" sign to the front gate to read, "Beware, they will murder your dog."
Lewisburch and his girlfriend are going to file a restraining order against Maricopa Police.
"I know they illegally trespassed by property illegally and killed my animal," she said.
Meantime, the Maricopa Police Department says the community is going to suffer without an armed police chief.
"The biggest thing is it puts a big strain on the city because in this department, this size the chief wears the uniform on patrol as well as i do and now we are going to be forced to pay officers overtime to cover his shift because you wouldn't want an officer coming to your house without a gun," Sgt Merritt told 17 News.
Chief Fertheim is due in court on October 15, for the initial shooting and current temporary restraining order.
http://www.kerngoldenempire.com/news/local/story/Maricopa-chief-gives-up-his-guns/d/story/0iMsHOhL2Ey5ymHC6Gp5xQ
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