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At least the officers went home safe.
Report: Dog's owner was cuffed when shot
Saturday, July 24, 2004
By JOHN BRANTON, Columbian staff writer
A sheriff's investigation into the shooting of a 19-year-old woman by deputies who were firing at her dog confirms that she was handcuffed and lying on the ground just before being hit.
The investigation, released Thursday in response to a public-records request by The Columbian, also confirms witness reports that one of the officers fired his gun at the wounded boxer-mix dog as it was running away the evening of June 26.
But witnesses interviewed by sheriff's detectives differed on another key point, whether the dog, named Savage, was moving aggressively toward Deputies Don Slagle and John O'Mara when they first opened fire.
Both deputies said the dog approached them aggressively. But about half of the approximately nine witnesses said the dog wasn't aggressive and appeared to be going to 19-year-old Tabitha DeSousa, its handcuffed owner, just before she was struck in the lower left leg by a bullet, the report said.
The investigation was conducted by the sheriff's Major Crimes Unit assisted by Vancouver police Detective Jane Scott. On Friday, Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Jim Miller said he had reviewed the investigation and concluded there was no evidence the two deputies committed any criminal wrongdoing.
Indeed, Miller said, encountering a man with a gun was stressful for the deputies.
"It actually was a pretty traumatic and dangerous situation that was existing for a bit," Miller said.
Clark County Sheriff Garry Lucas said it hadn't been determined whether the deputies violated any department policies or would be disciplined.
One officer's bullet struck DeSousa in the lower left leg, shattering a bone. DeSousa underwent surgery twice at Southwest Washington Medical Center and was released from a Vancouver rehabilitation facility July 10.
Clark County is paying De-Sousa's "reasonable and necessary" medical bills, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Curt Wyrick said. The amount to be paid has not been revealed.
Deputies Slagle and O'Mara remain on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, officials said. That is routine in such cases.
The report released Thursday concludes that "both Deputy Slagle and O'Mara feared the dog was going to attack them and both fired their duty weapons," but it does not offer an opinion on whether the officers' actions were correct.
The dog, which wore a pinch collar often used to control aggressive dogs, was later euthanized because of its wounds and alleged aggressive behavior the night of the shooting.
An official from Clark County Animal Protection and Control told The Columbian she could find no previous complaints involving the animal.
The investigative report's synopsis says the deputies arrived at a home at 5717 N.E. 45th Ave. in the Minnehaha area about 7:40 p.m. A real-estate agent who was trying to sell the home had reported seeing a handgun and drug paraphernalia inside three days earlier.
When O'Mara arrived, he saw Michael Luther Woosley, 47, standing by a car in the yard. Another man was seen just inside the home, and O'Mara followed him. The man ran out the back door and around to the front of the home, where Slagle was standing.
Slagle saw the man was holding a handgun and yelled for him to drop it. The man ran back into the home, dropped the gun and initially escaped. The discarded weapon, found in the home, was a Ruger P-89 9 mm semiautomatic pistol. It was loaded with 11 bullets.
Several officers surrounded the area. An hour later, David Lloyd Kipp, 37, was apprehended a few blocks away and taken to the Clark County Jail on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Kipp later told detectives he'd come to the home to buy Woosley's car, a statement echoed by Woosley.
Kipp gave two versions of why he had a handgun. He said he found the gun on a pile of clothing as he was cleaning out the car. He also said he went inside the home to get a drink of water and found the gun in a drawer by a sink.
Kipp said he had asked Woosley to whom the gun belonged just before the deputies arrived.
Kipp told detectives he fled because he thought there might be a warrant for his arrest and because he knew, as a convicted felon, he wasn't allowed to be in possession of a gun.
Kipp was released from custody. Nearly a month after the incident, no criminal charges have been filed against Kipp for possessing the gun. The issue remains under review and a prosecutor has asked the sheriff's office for further investigation.
Woosley, a convicted drug user, had been staying in the home, which belonged to his sister, Peggy O'Neill. O'Neill recently had sold the two-story home and had told Woosley to move out, the investigation reveals.
DeSousa told detectives she had been visiting Woosley that evening to "get high." She said an unidentified man had just tried unsuccessfully to give her an intravenous injection of methamphetamine when the deputies arrived.
Detectives were unable to find that man, the report says.
As other officers were looking for Kipp, the investigation says, O'Mara went inside the home and discovered DeSousa and her dog. O'Mara told De-Sousa to shut the dog in a downstairs room and come outside, and she did.
Slagle and O'Mara then handcuffed Woosley and De-Sousa and had them lie on their stomachs in the front yard, the report said.
That's when the dog got loose detectives were unable to determine how and approached Slagle in the front yard.
All witnesses agreed that DeSousa screamed, "Don't shoot my dog!" and moved just before the first shot. Descriptions of her movement differed, with various witnesses saying DeSousa kicked one leg, or rolled onto her side, or was in a partially sitting position.
Half of the witnesses said it appeared DeSousa was trying to place herself between the deputy and her dog.
Slagle fired his .45-caliber Colt semiautomatic twice and O'Mara fired his Beretta 9 mm three times. The bullets hit the dog and DeSousa, the report said.
During the incident, Slagle's wife, Lisa Slagle, was sitting in his patrol car and O'Mara's daughter, Colleen, 18, was in his patrol car. The women had been participating in the department's more than 40-year-old citizen ride-along program, which allows family members and others to ride with deputies, Lucas said.
It wasn't the first time a deputy's bullet went astray while firing at a dog.
In February 2003, when deputies were sent to a call of a man threatening his wife with a knife in their Hazel Dell home, an officer fired a shot at a dog. The bullet struck a neighboring house occupied by a woman and her three children.
The deputy involved said the dog had charged him and he fired a shot that hit the dog and the neighbor's living room window, according to a sheriff's office report.
No one was injured.
Lucas said Monday he couldn't recall the incident or whether any discipline was ordered. Typically in such cases, Lucas said, the officer would be required to undergo extra training about selecting a target and clearing the background to make sure no one could be hit.
Lucas' policy on use of deadly force allows deputies to "use weapons to destroy severely injured animals or to defend themselves against vicious, rabid or otherwise dangerous animals."
The Columbian filed a formal request for the investigative report after sheriff's officials took three days to say who had been shot and which deputies were responsible.
Sheriff's officials also initially refused to confirm two witnesses' reports that DeSousa was handcuffed on the ground when she was shot.
John Branton covers crime and law enforcement for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-759-8012, or [email protected].
Update
Previously: On June 26, two Clark County sheriff's deputies fired five shots at a woman's dog, wounding the animal and hitting the woman in the leg. An investigation by sheriff's Major Crimes Unit began.
What's new: On Thursday, the sheriff's office released a copy of the investigative report. Prosecutor's office said Friday there was no evidence the two deputies committed any criminal wrongdoing.
What's next: Sheriff Garry Lucas will decide on officer discipline, if any.
At least the officers went home safe.
Report: Dog's owner was cuffed when shot
Saturday, July 24, 2004
By JOHN BRANTON, Columbian staff writer
A sheriff's investigation into the shooting of a 19-year-old woman by deputies who were firing at her dog confirms that she was handcuffed and lying on the ground just before being hit.
The investigation, released Thursday in response to a public-records request by The Columbian, also confirms witness reports that one of the officers fired his gun at the wounded boxer-mix dog as it was running away the evening of June 26.
But witnesses interviewed by sheriff's detectives differed on another key point, whether the dog, named Savage, was moving aggressively toward Deputies Don Slagle and John O'Mara when they first opened fire.
Both deputies said the dog approached them aggressively. But about half of the approximately nine witnesses said the dog wasn't aggressive and appeared to be going to 19-year-old Tabitha DeSousa, its handcuffed owner, just before she was struck in the lower left leg by a bullet, the report said.
The investigation was conducted by the sheriff's Major Crimes Unit assisted by Vancouver police Detective Jane Scott. On Friday, Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecutor Jim Miller said he had reviewed the investigation and concluded there was no evidence the two deputies committed any criminal wrongdoing.
Indeed, Miller said, encountering a man with a gun was stressful for the deputies.
"It actually was a pretty traumatic and dangerous situation that was existing for a bit," Miller said.
Clark County Sheriff Garry Lucas said it hadn't been determined whether the deputies violated any department policies or would be disciplined.
One officer's bullet struck DeSousa in the lower left leg, shattering a bone. DeSousa underwent surgery twice at Southwest Washington Medical Center and was released from a Vancouver rehabilitation facility July 10.
Clark County is paying De-Sousa's "reasonable and necessary" medical bills, Chief Deputy Prosecutor Curt Wyrick said. The amount to be paid has not been revealed.
Deputies Slagle and O'Mara remain on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, officials said. That is routine in such cases.
The report released Thursday concludes that "both Deputy Slagle and O'Mara feared the dog was going to attack them and both fired their duty weapons," but it does not offer an opinion on whether the officers' actions were correct.
The dog, which wore a pinch collar often used to control aggressive dogs, was later euthanized because of its wounds and alleged aggressive behavior the night of the shooting.
An official from Clark County Animal Protection and Control told The Columbian she could find no previous complaints involving the animal.
The investigative report's synopsis says the deputies arrived at a home at 5717 N.E. 45th Ave. in the Minnehaha area about 7:40 p.m. A real-estate agent who was trying to sell the home had reported seeing a handgun and drug paraphernalia inside three days earlier.
When O'Mara arrived, he saw Michael Luther Woosley, 47, standing by a car in the yard. Another man was seen just inside the home, and O'Mara followed him. The man ran out the back door and around to the front of the home, where Slagle was standing.
Slagle saw the man was holding a handgun and yelled for him to drop it. The man ran back into the home, dropped the gun and initially escaped. The discarded weapon, found in the home, was a Ruger P-89 9 mm semiautomatic pistol. It was loaded with 11 bullets.
Several officers surrounded the area. An hour later, David Lloyd Kipp, 37, was apprehended a few blocks away and taken to the Clark County Jail on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
Kipp later told detectives he'd come to the home to buy Woosley's car, a statement echoed by Woosley.
Kipp gave two versions of why he had a handgun. He said he found the gun on a pile of clothing as he was cleaning out the car. He also said he went inside the home to get a drink of water and found the gun in a drawer by a sink.
Kipp said he had asked Woosley to whom the gun belonged just before the deputies arrived.
Kipp told detectives he fled because he thought there might be a warrant for his arrest and because he knew, as a convicted felon, he wasn't allowed to be in possession of a gun.
Kipp was released from custody. Nearly a month after the incident, no criminal charges have been filed against Kipp for possessing the gun. The issue remains under review and a prosecutor has asked the sheriff's office for further investigation.
Woosley, a convicted drug user, had been staying in the home, which belonged to his sister, Peggy O'Neill. O'Neill recently had sold the two-story home and had told Woosley to move out, the investigation reveals.
DeSousa told detectives she had been visiting Woosley that evening to "get high." She said an unidentified man had just tried unsuccessfully to give her an intravenous injection of methamphetamine when the deputies arrived.
Detectives were unable to find that man, the report says.
As other officers were looking for Kipp, the investigation says, O'Mara went inside the home and discovered DeSousa and her dog. O'Mara told De-Sousa to shut the dog in a downstairs room and come outside, and she did.
Slagle and O'Mara then handcuffed Woosley and De-Sousa and had them lie on their stomachs in the front yard, the report said.
That's when the dog got loose detectives were unable to determine how and approached Slagle in the front yard.
All witnesses agreed that DeSousa screamed, "Don't shoot my dog!" and moved just before the first shot. Descriptions of her movement differed, with various witnesses saying DeSousa kicked one leg, or rolled onto her side, or was in a partially sitting position.
Half of the witnesses said it appeared DeSousa was trying to place herself between the deputy and her dog.
Slagle fired his .45-caliber Colt semiautomatic twice and O'Mara fired his Beretta 9 mm three times. The bullets hit the dog and DeSousa, the report said.
During the incident, Slagle's wife, Lisa Slagle, was sitting in his patrol car and O'Mara's daughter, Colleen, 18, was in his patrol car. The women had been participating in the department's more than 40-year-old citizen ride-along program, which allows family members and others to ride with deputies, Lucas said.
It wasn't the first time a deputy's bullet went astray while firing at a dog.
In February 2003, when deputies were sent to a call of a man threatening his wife with a knife in their Hazel Dell home, an officer fired a shot at a dog. The bullet struck a neighboring house occupied by a woman and her three children.
The deputy involved said the dog had charged him and he fired a shot that hit the dog and the neighbor's living room window, according to a sheriff's office report.
No one was injured.
Lucas said Monday he couldn't recall the incident or whether any discipline was ordered. Typically in such cases, Lucas said, the officer would be required to undergo extra training about selecting a target and clearing the background to make sure no one could be hit.
Lucas' policy on use of deadly force allows deputies to "use weapons to destroy severely injured animals or to defend themselves against vicious, rabid or otherwise dangerous animals."
The Columbian filed a formal request for the investigative report after sheriff's officials took three days to say who had been shot and which deputies were responsible.
Sheriff's officials also initially refused to confirm two witnesses' reports that DeSousa was handcuffed on the ground when she was shot.
John Branton covers crime and law enforcement for The Columbian. He can be reached at 360-759-8012, or [email protected].
Update
Previously: On June 26, two Clark County sheriff's deputies fired five shots at a woman's dog, wounding the animal and hitting the woman in the leg. An investigation by sheriff's Major Crimes Unit began.
What's new: On Thursday, the sheriff's office released a copy of the investigative report. Prosecutor's office said Friday there was no evidence the two deputies committed any criminal wrongdoing.
What's next: Sheriff Garry Lucas will decide on officer discipline, if any.
