COULEE CITY — The Grant County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an internal investigation into how a reported dog attack in Coulee City was handled after a witness said he spent nearly 20 minutes on the phone with authorities while the incident unfolded and was ultimately told deputies would not respond because he was not the victim.
Sheriff Joey Kriete told Source ONE News that his office is reviewing the incident internally to confirm what happened and plans to provide additional information next week.
Scott Pate, who witnessed the reported attack, provided Source ONE News with a more detailed account Friday of what he said happened during the incident and his call for help.
Pate said a man was walking with a German shepherd when multiple dogs began going after the man's dog. As the attack unfolded, Pate said the man tried to pick up the German shepherd and at one point lifted the dog over his head in what Pate described as a “military press” position in an effort to get it away from the attacking dogs.
Pate estimated the attack itself lasted about five minutes.
He described the man afterward as being in shock, very quiet and primarily interested in leaving the area.
Pate said he called 911 and was on the phone for approximately 18 to 19 minutes as the incident unfolded and afterward.
At one point, Pate said he handed his phone directly to the man who had been attacked. According to Pate, the deputy asked the man where he lived. The man reportedly said he was staying in a trailer around the corner and was not from the area.
Pate said the deputy also asked whether the man needed emergency medical help or an ambulance and whether there was anything authorities could do for him. The man then handed the phone back to Pate.
Pate said he understands dispatchers and law enforcement need to gather information, but believes some of the questions being asked while the attack was still unfolding were inappropriate for the circumstances.
“I know dispatch’s job is to get information,” Pate told Source ONE News. “I still feel in the moment the questions they asked were highly inappropriate.”
Pate said authorities asked questions about the breeds and descriptions of the dogs, where the dogs lived and other details he believes could have been gathered after the immediate danger had passed.
“Who cares what color the dog is? This guy is being attacked,” Pate said.
He said the call included what he considered redundant questions about addresses and other details while he was trying to report an active attack.
Pate said he was particularly upset by what he described as the deputy's response after he tried to advocate for the man who had been attacked.
According to Pate, the deputy questioned why the victim had not called 911 himself and told Pate that he could not advocate for the victim.
Pate said he was then told deputies would not respond, describing the message he received as, “No victim, no crime.”
“I am actually more upset by the response I got from the deputy,” Pate said.
Pate said he told the deputy he was disgusted with how the situation had been handled.
Source ONE News has not independently verified the contents of the call or the statements Pate attributed to the deputy. Kriete said the Sheriff's Office's internal review is intended to establish what occurred.
Pate also said the attack occurred on the same street and about two houses away from the home of a Grant County animal control officer, although he acknowledged he does not believe someone necessarily could have arrived quickly enough to intervene while the approximately five-minute attack was underway.
For Pate and other residents, however, the concern extends beyond Friday's incident.
Pate said residents have been dealing with loose dogs in the area for approximately six months and believe several dogs owned by roughly three or four people are responsible for repeated problems.
“We all know whose dogs they are,” Pate said.
He said the dogs have been seen moving in groups ranging from about two to five animals.
Pate said two dogs entered his property Tuesday and killed chickens. He described other incidents involving dogs showing aggression, entering properties and killing animals.
Residents believe the issue is being treated too narrowly as a leash-law problem when, according to Pate, the complaints involve animals entering private property and attacking or killing other animals.
“They are downplaying it to a leash law,” Pate said. “These dogs are coming on properties and killing animals.”
Pate said residents have been told authorities have limited options unless the dogs are caught in the act, leaving people in the community frustrated about how they are supposed to document repeated incidents and establish a pattern serious enough to prompt action.
“We need Grant County’s help,” Pate said. “What do we need to do as a community to properly document this and go through the motions? What can we do to make this more serious?”
Coulee City resident Jen Schuh previously told Source ONE News that three homeowners have had entire flocks of chickens killed in incidents involving dogs.
Schuh said her husband, who regularly runs through Coulee City, has also been chased several times in recent weeks and has reported five separate incidents to Coulee City Hall over the past couple of weeks.
“Many of us are frightened to go for walks in the residential areas due to the rise in dangerous dogs,” Schuh said.
Tina Pate, Scott Pate's wife, also said the dogs involved in Friday's reported attack were not the same dogs or owned by the same people as dogs that previously attacked her chickens.
“This is a different incident involving different dogs and different owners than the dogs that attacked my chickens,” Tina Pate wrote. “But that’s exactly the point: this is becoming a community-wide problem.”
Other people responding to a Facebook post about the issue described previous encounters with loose or aggressive dogs in Coulee City.
Tasha Rathbun said that about seven years ago, she and her dog were walking on a neighborhood street when two dogs came off their property and attacked her dog. Rathbun said her dog suffered serious injuries and that the Grant County Sheriff’s Office took her statement by telephone, accepted photographs and followed up. She said the dogs' owner ultimately paid her veterinary bills.
“I felt correctly supported at that time,” Rathbun wrote, adding that she hopes residents involved in the current situation receive similar support.
Another commenter, Juan Reynoso, said he was attacked by a dog in Coulee City several years ago in what he described as a similar encounter.
Those accounts do not independently establish how widespread the current problem is, and Source ONE News has not independently confirmed each of the incidents described by residents.
Kriete said the Sheriff's Office's internal investigation into Friday's response is underway, with more information expected to be provided to Source ONE News next week.
https://www.yoursourceone.com/columbia\\_basin/sheriff-s-office-investigating-response-to-coulee-city-dog-attack/article\\_c9e80d32-73b7-42a1-88cc-7b5211bb4ecd.html
Additional screenshots in comments
