I was walking with my dog and one year old son down our dead end, country, black top road. My Lab went about 10 yards away from me and into someones yard sniffing around. Immediately I hear a pop and he yelps. I assume some one has sprayed him with a bb gun, which under **certain circumstances ** I have no problem with. We would do the same to a dog continually causing problems on our property if the owner wouldn’t handle it. But then Nick turns around and there is blood spraying out of his hip in pulses. This I’m not ok with. A bb should not penetrate the skin. I call out, no one answers. I knock on the door, no one answers. I am nervous since I have my son with me so I grab him, walk home and call the police. As they are taking my statement the black camaro that was parked in this neighbors front yard when I knocked pulls out and drives away. When the police go over to his place there is of course no answer. They come back to tell me they might can get him on animal cruelty. There was no mention of the fact that this neighbor could have been endangering my son and I.
What are my legal options? What process could I follow to make sure this doesn’t get blown off, especially if he just denies it? Is there any law about discharging a fire arm in the vicinity/general direction of an unknowing pedestrian and their baby? I am not looking for opinions, although they are welcome. I am looking for factual information from someone in the legal field so I may be informed when I talk to the police again. I live in a very podunk redneck area. Please do not underestimate how much everyone, from lawyers to police to the judge, doesn’t know or care. Otherwise I would just talk to them. Thank you
W… T… F!!! He could have killed you.
Did your dog make it?
I don’t have any answers for you about criminal charges… I’m sorry.
I’m not a lawyer, but maybe reckless endangerment?
Holy crap–that’s awful!
First, what jurisdiction are you in? I’m no lawyer, but I work for a humane society and have a little bit of experience parsing animal cruelty laws.
Second, do you have an active local humane society? If so, definitely get in touch with them.
Even if you don’t have one in your jurisdiction, call the nearest active humane society you can find out about. Make it clear ot them that you’re just looking for information (they’ll probably be unable to give you material aid if you’re not in their jurisdiction), but see what they know.
Finally, consider calling the local news station and telling them about this. Local news thrives on two things: blood and puppies (i.e., stories of crime and tragedy, and stories of cute things). Lots of local news stations absolutely love to show animal cruelty stories, and if they can get you some publicity, that can both raise a reward to catch the dogshooter, and keep a bit of pressure from the community on local law enforcement to do something.
Daniel
IANAL, and I’m sure some will be right along, but I do know that if you can’t get satisfaction through criminal procedings, there is always the civil suit. A lawyer can best advise you, but I’d think a case could be made for at least vetrinarian bills.
And how is the dog? Doing well I hope.
well that’s fucked up…
if he was 10 yards away, then it couldn’t be an issue dealing with safety or self-defense.
Plus he must have been waiting if it were to happen so quickly. And it is also bullshit that you couldn’t find anyone…
Is the dog okay? 
Run with the line -
- discharging a firearm, without cause, on a public street,
- actually striking a domestic animal, in close proximity to 2 people,
- putting them in a reasonable fear of their lives and the lives of family members.
I’d be very surprised if there wasn’t some law enforcement in response to that claim.
That sucks, at least you should be able to get him on endangering you humans, and possibly unlawful discharge of a fire arm…but a caveat - I regularly shoot dogs on my property as we have a leash law and I am tired of my chickens/livestock getting mauled by pets roaming. BUT they are always roaming, not walking with their owners [leashed or not] and are in my fields near my animals…
Sorry if I sould harsh, but I lost a very valuble ewe to a random dog mauling, after which I also lost the ability to show the ram because he had to have several hundred stitches that left so much scarring he was unshowable, not to mention very skittish at even being handled or near other animals. I regularly hand over their collars and tags to animal control, who goes over to the owners and cites them for letting their dogs roam. They are very lucky I never took them to court to reparate MY damages - a rambouillet is a very expensive critter.
On re-read, maybe not on but adjacent to a public street.
I’d advise you to reconsider your initial view and consult a lawyer.
I’m not an attorney but here’s a few thoughts.
You heard a pop and thought it was a BB gun at the time - not a firearm. It could be a pellet gun - a lot of pellet guns are sufficiently powerful to penetrate the skin. In many areas a pellet gun wouldn’t qualify as a firearm. Do have the slug the vet removed from the dog?
You have suspicions who shot your dog but didn’t really see anyone.
Here’s my guess. The police would go to the house and ask if anyone knew anything. They’d say no … some kids were probably playing around. Then they’d ask who are you to falsely accuse them? And, after some thought, they’d remember how another dog who looked just like yours did a lot of damage to their property just the other day.
In this area, given that your dog was on someone else’s property and not under your direct control, you wouldn’t get very far with the authorities. It’s worse if dogs are on someone else’s property, not under the owner’s control AND there’s livestock involved (or close by).
Was he on a leash?
I’m dying to find out what happened in this case. I have no advice.
Except that I see no reason why anyone would believe he wasn’t shooting at YOU, as opposed to your pet. What a complete outrage!
I’m really sorry about what happened and I think it really sucks, but in my experience this guy is 100% correct. It is so much easier to get away with anything if you are a complete, unrelenting jerk, and the guy that shot your dog sounds like he could hang with the best of them
Nothing will happen.
Proceed carefully. Anyone willing to shoot your dog, as you and your son walk next to it, is unhinged. If he’s willing to shoot your dog, there’s no telling what other rash actions he might take. For starters, I’d talk to neighbors and see if other dogs have been shot.
A co-worker of mine shot his neighbor’s dog and killed it, all with a BB gun. He spent a night in jail and ended up on probation for a year, a hefty fine and had to compensate the neighbor for his loss. I would definitely obtain advice from an attorney.
There was a quarter inch to a half inch deep hole, and we haven’t been able to find the pellet or bullet so we don’t know exactly what he was shot with. It might have fallen out or it might still be hiding in there, but Nick doesn’t seem to worse for ware.
LHD > Hello again. You might remember from another dog related thread where you helped me that our local humane society is pretty much useless. But one in a bigger city might at least have some info for me. The news thing is a great idea though. I might use it as a last resort.
My guess is that some delinquent was sitting out on his back porch shooting anything he saw moving when Nick approached the side of the trailer. Wrong place wrong time. Then when I called out he got scared and hid, and when he saw the cops, hoped in his car and got the hell out of there. Don’t know why he bothered though… as the saying goes, I know where he lives.
I really appreciate all the advice and I will act on it. But I’m not hopeful there is much that can be done. I would like to stir up just enough so this person will think twice about enjoying this kind of pass time again, but not so much as to get a neighborhood war going. I probably can’t even get him to pay the vet bill (it was $42).
As far as Nick being off leash goes; thats why we paid the extra money and drive the extra 20 min to town… so that our dogs wouldn’t always have to be leashed. But shooting a domestic without threat of eminent danger is still a crime out here. We didn’t break any laws, he did. And I would like to give him a reason not to do it again.
We live on 15 acres, and I’ve shot dogs on quite a few occasions. However I do not do it indiscriminately. I will only shoot them if a) there are two or more dogs together, and b) there’s no one controlling them. It sounds like this guy broke both of my rules. At any rate, in absence of hard evidence you’ll have a hard time getting him. Unless, of course, he confesses, which unfortunately is doubtful.
Mdm. President, I agree with your own assessment that nothing will happen in court. If it bothers you having a redneck asshole living nearby then hire a private detective to find out basic information on the guy. If his license is expired or he is uninsured then pass that on to the police with a complaint that people are speeding on your street (wink wink).
If you want to freak him out then mail a note addressed to him at his place of employment with a short sentence (I know who you are and what you did). leave it at that.
Wouldn suprise me if the guy was selling drugs out of his house. If there is a parade of cars parking at his address then relay the license numbers to the police and let nature take its course.
Be careful. You have kids to think about. No sense pissing off a crazy person.
Don’t let your dog get in other peoples’ yards. It’s totally your fault for letting it roam off a leash. I’ve had a dog shot because I was irresponsible like you. A pellet from an air rifle that did about the same damage that you described. Of course I was smart enough and decent enough to understand that it was my fault for being an irresponsible pet order and not go after someone who did nothing wrong by shooting it. Dogs shit in yards, piss on bushes and kill them, attack children, and smaller dogs, and kill livestock. They are fair game when you let them roam.
Living out in the country is no reason to an irreponsible pet owner. It’s your fault. Don’t be an asshole or bitch and be a sue happy idiot city slicker. I doubt the shooter broke any laws and you probably did. If the other way around, then you live in a pretty backward place.
Ignore Machetero’s post.
It’s bollocks.
IAAL.