04-23-2003, 12:22 PM
|
#1 (permalink)
|
| Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: inside the Beltway, outside the loop
Posts: 1,067
| » 
It's okay -- he doesn't bite.
Quote:
April 23, 2003 | SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) -- A Menlo Park, Calif., man accused of barking at a police canine is in the doghouse with authorities.
Richard "Tyson" Dillon, 25, faces a misdemeanor charge that he willfully and maliciously interfered with a Palo Alto police officer's duty by teasing and agitating the officer's dog. Dillon, who could face up to a year in county jail and a $1,000 fine if convicted, pleaded innocent in a Palo Alto courtroom Tuesday.
The incident occurred March 5, on Mardi Gras night, when Dillon, a bartender, and a co-worker were walking in downtown Palo Alto and passed a group of officers standing by their patrol cars.
According to Dillon's attorney, Donald Tasto, the police dog in one of the cars was already agitated and barking at other passers-by when Dillon returned a single "friendly bark." Police cited and then released him.
Tasto contends his client's case doesn't measure up to a crime.
"It's ridiculous that someone could be charged for barking," he said in a phone interview Tuesday, adding that Dillon "doesn't have a mean bone in his body."
"And what about First Amendment rights?" Tasto asked. "Is there no freedom of bark?"
Palo Alto police spokesman Jim Coffman acknowledged that barking in itself may not warrant a citation, but the law clearly prohibits actions that harass and agitate police dogs, he said.
Police also accused Dillon of swinging a fist at the dog - something Dillon denies.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office received the case Tuesday and is reviewing it, said prosecutor Jay Boyarsky.
|
|
|  |
Linear Mode
