POLICE OFFICER SHOOTS DOG,
PROMPTS PROTESTS
In Springfield on Tuesday, Aug. 12, a dog named
Kiki was shot in the head by a Springfield police officer
responding to what police say was a vicious dog call. Such
shootings have happened all over the country — in July, a
police officer in Idaho shot a Labrador through the glass
window of a van it was sitting in. The window was partially
open and the officer thought it was lunging at him.
Local animal advocates didn’t think such a shooting
could happen in Lane County. Now that it has, they want
to ensure family pets are not shot and that police make an
effort to avoid firing guns in local neighborhoods.
Although the situations vary, along with breed and
police officer repercussions, a few facts remain constant:
Dog shootings that happen all over the country are in
residential neighborhoods, generally involve large dogs
and have witness statements that contradict the official
police report, challenging the meaning of “threatening”
and “aggressive.”
According to the Springfield Police Department, two
people called in at around 7 pm to report a pit bull on
the loose. After an officer arrived on the scene and saw
the barking dog on the sidewalk, he tried to contact the
owners by going to the house that bystanders had pointed
out. The police department says this was when the dog
became aggressive and came at the officer, charging at the
retreating officer and lunging. The officer shot her in the
face. Kiki survived.
“Two feet away from the animal with a 40 caliber gun?
She shouldn’t be here right now. The way he shot her, he
was aiming to kill her,” says Kiki’s owner Breonna Kerr,
who may receive a citation from the city of Springfield
because the dog got out of her yard. Kerr says that the
KIKI THE PIT BULL
SHOT BY POLICE
police response alarmed neighbors who were outside at
the time. “They’re upset that the dog was shot in the head,
but they’re also upset that a cop would use such excessive
force with a gun in a residential neighborhood with kids
present.”
No animal control officers were available at the time of
the shooting, and multiple witnesses contradict the official
police statement, according to TV station KEZI and Kerr,
saying Kiki was only barking and not acting aggressively.
A protest held by Springfield citizens outside the police
department on Aug. 14 supported Kiki and her owner,
Kerr, as well as pit bulls as a misrepresented breed.
“We’d like to see more education and less full-force gun
power to stop the dog,” says Darla Waldrip, who attended
the protest and works with dogs locally through her
business, Connecting with K9s. “A lot of dogs that have
been shot have been kill shots straight to the head. They
haven’t been shots to the shoulder or something to deter
the dog; they’re wanting to stop the dog permanently.”
Waldrip, Kerr and other animal advocates call for police
training on how to deal with domesticated dogs using
nonlethal methods like catchpoles, pepper spray or Tasers.
In Roseburg, the Douglas County Low-Cost Veterinary
Services provided care for a dog shot by Myrtle Creek
police last month. The group launched a campaign called
“Don’t Shoot” to address the problem of police officers
shooting pets rather than using nonlethal control.
Springfield Chief of Police Tim Doney says he supports
his officer’s actions and the department is interested in
revamping its training, including animal control and
police interaction with domesticated animals.
The bullet went through Kiki’s left temple, where
it became lodged into her left shoulder, and will require
a $2,000 surgery to remove it. To make a tax-deductible
donation, contact Save the Pets at savethepets.net. For more
on “Don’t Shoot” go to wkly.ws/1sy. — Anna V. Smith
ACTIVIST
LERT
FRANK GIBSON
BY PAUL NEEVEL
HAPPENING PEOPLE
P H OTO BY B R E A N N A K E R R
In Greenville, Michigan, where Frank Gibson grew up, the major local
employer was the Gibson Refrigerator Company. “My great-grandfather,
my grandfather and my father ran the company,” Gibson says, but the
factory was sold when he was a child.
After high school, he dropped out of Kalamazoo College, moved to
California and spent four years as a hot-air balloonist. It took 10 hours
of training to get a license,” he says. “I flew charter flights, promotions
and training, all over the U.S., Mexico and Central America.” He returned
to school at UC Irvine for a degree in English and then entered law school
at the UO. “I remembered Oregon from an Outward Bound program when
I was 17,” says Gibson, who has worked in private practice law in Eugene
since graduation in 1979. Also a trained mediator, he encourages
mediation to settle disputes.
Inspired by the Oscar-winning short film Teenage Father, Gibson got
involved with Planned Parenthood in 1980. “I felt I could help counsel
young men,” he says. “But they asked me to serve on the board.” He
served on the national board from 1986-92 and has since chaired local
and statewide boards. In 2013, Planned Parenthood of SW Oregon gave
him the Margaret Sanger Award, named for the movement’s founder.
He also won last year’s Joseph M. Kosydar Award for Professionalism,
presented by the Lane County Bar Association.
• A free gathering to commemorate the 94th
anniversary of women’s suffrage will be at 3
pm Saturday, Aug. 23, at the Eugene Public
Library. Kirk Taylor and Livvie Taylor-Young will
present a scripted Power Point documentary
complete with original music and photographs
dating as far back as the 1800s.
• “Tacos Not Tar Sands” will feature a short documentary
about the Unist’ot’en Camp, tacos and more at The Boreal (450
W. 3rd) from 6 to 9pm. Entry is free but a donation of $5-$10
is suggested. The camp in Canada is led by the Wet’suwet’en
First Nation, “who have reclaimed traditional territories and are
asserting control over their hereditary lands,” and it seeks to
protect the land from massive LNG and tar sands pipelines.
eugeneweekly.com • A ugust 21, 2014
7