My Cruelty Case

I told you back in June that I'd just finished a cruelty case that was a bit of a doozy. The drama went on for months, but I'll try to condense it to one page for you.

I wrote a woman a ticket for leaving her dog locked in her car while she went to yoga. Again. She was pissed and called my boss to complain. Boss upheld my decision. Next she tried to get the chief of police to pull the ticket. Chief agreed with me and my boss. Then Yoga Bitch the complainant emailed the mayor and all city council members, only giving half truths (of course). The City manager was horrified at how heartless the "dog catcher" was and wrote a scathing email to the Chief. It was forwarded to me. I said a lot of those words I learned in the Navy. Then I took a deep breath and submitted my findings, pictures and the other evidence below (AKA the rest of the story). Surprise! The City officials upheld my decision as well. THEN Yoga Bitch the complainant took the case to court to dispute the ticket. UGH.

The case has been adjudicated and is now public record so I can share it with you. I've changed the names of people and places though . . . you know the drill. Below is the statement I made for court.

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On April 3, 2018 at approximately 10:20 AM I received a call from Neighboring Beach ACO, Missy Evans. Officer Evans told me that she had received a report of a dog locked in a car in front of Pet Store and asked me to investigate. Officer Evans is in the courtroom today to testify to that interaction.

See the pink tongue? Position of the shade?

I arrived on scene to discover a long-haired, black and white border collie inside a dark red Lexus SUV. I called it in to Dispatch at 10:29 AM and asked for an officer to come to scene. That officer was Officer Ingram, who is here with me today.

I was approached by Becky Thomas, who stated she was the original complainant. She had witnessed a woman leave the SUV with a yoga mat and go into La Gym, leaving a dog in the vehicle. The sworn affidavit Ms. Thomas provided stated that she saw the woman leave the vehicle at approximately 10:15 AM. Ms. Thomas is in the courtroom today for cross examination.

Multiple attempts were made to find the owner of the car.

• I asked Dispatch to run the tag so we could get an owner’s name. Unfortunately, our system was down and the tag couldn't be traced right away.
• I called ACO Evans back and asked if her department could run the tag. She was off duty.
• Pet Store employees unsuccessfully tried to look through their morning transactions to find the name of the dog's owner.
• Eventually Officer Ingram was able to run the tag on her in-car computer and obtained the registered owner’s name. Officer Ingram went into La Gym to retrieve the registered owner, Ms. Beatrice Otch.

Multiple photos showed the car in full sun, windows up

I inspected the car. It was in full sun. [Multiple photos were introduced, including: all four sides of the car showing windows and license plate; several of the dog inside the car taken at different times, one showed dog drooling heavily; and the empty water bowl, with a sealed bottle of water sitting next to it.] The front windows were completely rolled up, and the back windows were down about 4 inches. I looked through the window opening. The dog was lying on the driver’s side floorboard. He was panting and his tongue was bright pink, indicating that the dog was hot. I aimed my Fluke 62 Infrared Thermometer towards the dog through the cracked, rear passenger window. A 10-second scan read 92 degrees at 10:34 AM.

I photographed the dog through the same cracked window. I also photographed a small plastic bowl (approximately 12-16 ounce capacity) that was in the car. The bowl has less than a quarter inch of water covering the bottom of the bowl. The bowl was in the sun, so anything inside was most likely warm.

No water in the bowl (but the bottle is half full)

The dog was in partial sun. All the doors were locked so I could not remove the dog. I tried to call the dog to the rear of the vehicle where there was a little more shade. The dog did not respond to me. At 10:39 AM I repeated the infrared thermometer scan and the temperature had risen to 95 degrees.

At 10:43 AM the dog was panting heavily and beginning to drool, indicating the dog was overheating. By my calculations the dog had been in the vehicle for 30 minutes and I was worried the dog would soon suffer from heat stroke. Signs of heat stroke in dogs include:

• Increased heart rate
• Excessive panting
• Increased salivation
• Bright red tongue
• Red or pale gums
• Thick, sticky saliva
• Disorientation
• Weakness
• Dizziness
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Seizures
• Coma
• and eventually death

By this time the dog was already exhibiting excessive panting, increased drooling and a bright tongue. The dog was not responding to me at all -- no barking, no moving, no change in posture to a high pitched voice. I was concerned that this could be disorientation, weakness or dizziness.

At 10:44 AM Officer Ingram found the dog owner, Ms. Otch. When Ms. Otch arrived I recognized her. I had spoken with her previously about not locking her dog in the car while at the gym. I asked Ms. Otch to remove her dog from the car. She said she didn’t have her keys and returned to the gym.

At 10:51 AM Ms. Otch finally unlocked her car. She opened the passenger side door and stood in the open doorway fiddling with her bag. When she removed the dog at 10:54 AM she stated that the last time we spoke all I told her is that she needed to leave water in the car to be in compliance and pointed to the near empty bowl. She then stated that she wanted me to scan her car with my IR thermometer.

A scan of the floorboard where her dog had been sitting measured 84.4 degrees. This is after having been ventilated for several minutes. I scanned the dashboard and it measured 126 degrees, indicating that the engine was still warm and would continue to heat the vehicle. I wrote both temperature readings on her citation.

Our department uses a Computer Aided Dispatch system. I’d like to introduce the CAD reports from my interactions with Ms. Otch on April 3 as well as the first time we spoke, October 31, 2017. [Several pages were introduced into evidence.]

When I spoke with Ms. Otch five months previously, she stated that she had only had the dog for a few months and the dog had problems with separation anxiety. At that time I gave her a verbal warning along with the usual spiel:

• Dogs do not sweat. The only way they can cool themselves is through panting.
• Studies have shown that cracking the windows does not make a difference in cooling the car.
• Even on a nice 75 degree day, the inside of a car can be over 100 degrees in 20 minutes.
• The sun moves and shade quickly disappears.

I’ve been giving the same speech for over 12 years. I also remember telling Ms. Otch that there are several doggie daycare facilities at the beaches that can watch her dog while she goes to the gym. Puppy Playhouse is less than a block from La Gym; their addresses are 1075 Beach Road and 985 Beach Road respectively.

On April 3, 2018 Ms. Bea Otch knowingly and intentionally left her dog in a locked vehicle while she went to the gym. It appears that the education and verbal warning from October 31st were not enough to change her behavior. I wrote Ms. Otch an Animal Control citation for animal cruelty. In my professional opinion, her actions fit the parameters of City Ordinance 4-5:

It shall be unlawful to leave an animal unattended in a vehicle in a way that endangers the health or well-being of the animal due to heat, cold, lack of adequate ventilation, or lack of food or water, or other circumstances that could reasonably be expected to cause suffering or death.

The right tools make all the difference

By ordinance, this citation comes with a $500 fine. When I wrote Ms. Otch the citation I explained my reasoning to her and told her how to contest the citation if she felt it was unwarranted. I gave her a copy of the City ordinances.

At this time I’d like to present the notarized affidavit from Ms. Thomas, my certification from the American Animal Cruelty Investigations School for training on the Fluke 62 Max Plus IR Thermometer, my infrared thermometer’s calibration history and studies of temperatures in enclosed cars from San Francisco State University, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Louisiana State Medical Society. [All introduced into evidence.]

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I'd like to say that this case was a slam dunk . . . but it wasn't. The judge allowed the hearing to become a hot mess. BTW, my City does not provide an attorney for me to try these cases, even though the defendants can bring their own legal counsel. Evidence presentation, cross examination, hearsay objections, subpoenas -- all these I have learned OJT and from watching countless hours of Law and Order. Some of the drama courtroom spectators got to see that day included:

• Bea Otch insisted that all witnesses wait outside the courtroom so they couldn't hear others' testimony (including mine). The judge agreed. Then Ms. Otch yelled at my witnesses for not giving the answers she wanted (AKA all witnesses corroborated my testimony). 
• Bea Otch subpoenaed Pet Store employee, Frank. The poor guy was sweating like a whore in church. Ms. Otch asked Frank if he thought she was a bad pet owner. When it was my turn for questioning, I reminded the court that the citation was written on fact -- the dog was left in a hot car -- not opinion as to whether Ms. Otch is a good pet owner. I then asked Frank if he remembered the incident (yes), remembered trying to find the owner's name for me (yes) and how long I was trying to get the dog out of the car (30 minutes).
• Whereas I stayed professional and factual, Bea Otch became overly emotional. She cried! Between sobs she told the judge that a cruelty charge is serious and it would affect her ability to foster dogs. I agreed that animal cruelty is serious and stated that dogs die in hot cars every year in our county. That's why I tried to educate Ms. Otch months previously.
• Ms. Otch did a Public Records request before court (BTW, I did too). Ms. Otch produced emails between the City Manager and several city council members stating that "$500 seemed excessive "and "perhaps the ACO was overzealous." Naturally, Ms. Otch didn't bring the rest of the email thread where they remarked that "the complainant seems to have left out some pertinent information" and they "didn't realize that fines were dictated by our ordinances." These emails were hearsay and should not have been allowed. I was able to work around them. However, I was pissed that my own city management was used against me in court -- for enforcing their own laws.
• Bea Otch provided emails from somebody (supposedly) at Fluke stating that the temperature reading of the Fluke 64 model was not exact and should not be admissible in court. I responded that 1) this was hearsay as the person in question wasn't available for cross-examination and 2) I have the Fluke 62 model. I use this model because it IS exact, and reminded the judge that I submitted a copy of the infrared thermometer’s calibration history to the court.
• Bea Otch provided studies about separation anxiety in dogs. I asked Ms. Otch how leaving a dog alone in a hot car helps treat separation anxiety. I then reminded the court that Puppy Playhouse is less than a block from La Gym.
• On cross examination I provided the court with a copy of the email Bea Otch sent to the mayor et al. Ms. Otch agreed that she had sent it. I showed her the pictures of the Lexus SUV and she agreed that it was hers. I then said "You stated that your car was parked in the shade. Will you please show me where the shade is in this picture?" Ms. Otch complained to the judge that I was bullying her!

The trial went on twice as long as necessary. Entirely too much hearsay was allowed. Then the judge said she would "take the case under advisement" and mail us her findings. This bullshit phrase is often code for "This is ugly and I'm too chicken to make a ruling to your face." I usually hear it when the defendant is a lawyer and the judge knows I'm right, but is going to rule against me anyway. It took over a month to receive the ruling, but the outcome was good. The citation was upheld. Ms. Otch was ordered to pay the $500 fine, a $5 surcharge and all court costs.

Take that, Bea Otch. And you too, Self-Righteous City Council Twit. I guess I'm not just an overzealous dog catcher after all. -- K