K9 dog abused
Raleigh, NC (US)Incident Date: Wednesday, Aug 1, 2007
County: Wake
Disposition: Alleged
Case Images: 3 files available
Alleged:
» Charles L Jones, Sgt.
» Timothy L Cardwell
» Rodney G Crater
Case Updates: 5 update(s) available
Amid allegations of animal abuse, a trooper was fired, and a complete review of the state's Highway Patrol's K-9 program was ordered.
Sgt. Charles L. Jones, 38, who was in charge of training the Highway Patrol's K-9 unit, was dismissed from the force Highway Patrol spokesman Lt. Everett Clendenin said.
The process to let Jones go moved quickly after Bryan Beatty, the state secretary of Crime Control and Public Safety, reviewed videotape of an incident of alleged animal abuse at a training exercise in early August. The State Bureau of Investigation is also looking into whether Jones violated laws that make it a felony to abuse a law-enforcement animal. Jones, 38, was placed on investigative leave after internal investigators received the recording.
Two other troopers are also under investigation for not reporting the incident: Timmy L. Cardwell, who is stationed in Winston-Salem, and Rodney G. Crater, who is stationed in Asheville.
A third trooper, Ray Herndon, 42, a 21-year veteran, is not under investigation, because he recorded the incident with his cell phone and turned the video in, Clendenin said. The contents of the video are not being released, because it is evidence in an ongoing criminal investigation, Clendenin said.
All four troopers are members of the Highway Patrol's Criminal Interdiction Team, which employs dogs to find drugs.
The dog who was allegedly abused, Rioch, a Belgian Malinois, has been removed from Jones' care and is being housed in a kennel at the patrol's Training Academy in Raleigh. Rioch had been Jones' partner for seven years and lived at Jones' home.
As a result of the investigation, Colonel W. Fletcher Clay, commander of the Highway Patrol, ordered a complete review of the force's entire K-9 program. Clay met with patrol command staff met and developed several plans of action to deal with the allegations of animal abuse. "We have a high standard of conduct that we expect of our troopers," he said earlier this week in response to Steele's resignation. "When they sway off of that, we take quick action. It's not something we're going to tolerate."
Case UpdatesNorth Carolina's second highest court says a fired state trooper, seen kicking his K-9 partner nearly five years ago on video, should get be reinstated with back pay.
Charles Jones was fired in 2007 after video surfaced of him kicking "Ricoh" that was recorded by a fellow trooper. Jones sued the state over his firing, and several judges have agreed. On Tuesday the North Carolina Court of Appeals agreed as well.
To read the Appeals Court ruling, click here.
Jones was a sergeant with 13 years of service when he was fired in September 2007.
He was fired on the orders of then-Gov. Mike Easley after the video clips surfaced showing the trooper hoisting "Ricoh" off the ground and kicking him five times.
A Wake County judge two years ago ruled that Jones' actions were no worse than the Highway Patrol's accepted methods of training dogs for police service.
There's no word yet whether the state will appeal Tuesday's ruling. "We have been made aware of the court's decision but have not yet had an opportunity to fully review it or to discuss it with the attorney general's office. Accordingly, any public statement at this time would be premature," said First Sergeant Jeff Gordon | Source: witn.com - Feb 7, 2012
Update posted on Feb 8, 2012 - 8:58PM |
The state Highway Patrol would like to find a new home for Ricoh, the retired police dog whose punishment for failing to let go of a piece of fire hose became a national outrage.
But patrol officials say they don't have the legal standing to compel Ricoh's return from Robert Reaves, the trooper who had been entrusted with his care. In October, Reaves temporarily returned Ricoh to former Sgt. Charles L. Jones, the trooper who had been fired for disciplining the dog by suspending and kicking him.
Patrol spokesman Capt. Everett Clendenin said the attorney general's office advised the patrol that a contract Reaves signed to take control of Ricoh did not provide an escape clause for the dog's return in the event that he was given back to Jones. Clendenin said the patrol had asked for Ricoh's return, but Reaves refused.
"He is the legal owner, guardian, whatever, over Ricoh, and we've released all rights, ownership and authority over the canine," Clendenin said.
The determination raises questions as to whether Reaves could again give Ricoh to Jones. That will again be looked into as a personnel matter, Clendenin said. He declined to say whether Reaves was disciplined for the first occasion.
Reaves, a 13-year member of the patrol, could not be reached for comment.
Six weeks ago, The News & Observer spotted Ricoh at Jones' home in southern Wake County and notified the patrol, prompting an immediate internal investigation. Reaves told patrol officials that he left the 8-year-old Belgian Malinois with Jones for a month and had planned to get him back.
Patrol officials said they were distraught to learn Ricoh was back with Jones. Last year, during a training exercise, Jones tied Ricoh up to a loading dock so that his hind legs barely touched the ground. Jones then kicked Ricoh five times. Some of the kicks caused the dog to swing underneath the loading dock.
Another trooper testified that he was so startled by what he saw that he recorded it on video with his cell phone. The video drew tens of thousands of views on news Web sites when it became public earlier this year, and Jones' actions drew national scorn.
Since then an administrative law judge and the State Personnel Commission have determined that Jones should get his job back. They found that the state did not follow proper procedure in dismissing him and that the patrol's canine training procedures were so vague that it was hard for troopers to know when disciplinary tactics bordered on abuse. There was no evidence that Ricoh was injured.
The case remains under appeal, and criminal animal abuse charges were still being considered against Jones at the time Reaves returned Ricoh to him. Wake County District Attorney Colon Willoughby later decided not to press charges.
'It's heartbreaking'
Hope Hancock, SPCA-Wake County executive director, found it absurd that the patrol has no means to get Ricoh back.
"I'm very disappointed, and I'm very suspicious," she said. "I can't believe that the contract is so tight that they can't get the dog out of the clutches of these people. It's heartbreaking."
Clendenin said the contract between Reaves and the patrol is a standard one-page document for the placement of canines. The contract allows for the transfer of ownership at no cost. It stipulates that the dog will not be used for police work or for commercial gain and that the new owner "will not subject the canine to neglect or abuse."
Reaves is also a canine handler, and he testified on behalf of Jones at his personnel hearing in April. That hearing set off more alarms as Reaves and other troopers testified that patrol canines were hung, swung, shocked with stun guns and kicked during training exercises.
The patrol suspended the unit after the testimony and plans a new unit that will perform only drug searches. The new unit, therefore, will not need to use harsh discipline to train the dogs. Reaves and the other handlers will not be asked to join the new unit.
Reaves testified that none of the actions Jones exhibited on the video constituted abuse.
Jones, Reaves testified, "loved the dog to death." | Source: News Observer - Dec 19, 2008
Update posted on Dec 19, 2008 - 10:52AM |
According to a ruling by the State Personnel Commission on Friday, a former North Carolina Highway Patrol sergeant fired for kicking his police dog during training should get his job back.
The patrol failed to prove that Sgt. Charles L. Jones' actions amounted to personal misconduct, the commission said. Jones deserves back pay, it said.
The commission also ruled that the patrol lacked clear discipline standards for police dogs and found Jones' actions were consistent with patrol practices.
"Though disturbing, the treatment of [Jones'] animal does not rise to the level of 'abuse,' " the ruling reads, noting that even if it did, Wake County's animal ordinance specifically exempts police dogs. | Source: McClatchy Washington Bureau - Oct 18, 2008
Update posted on Oct 20, 2008 - 12:08PM |
A judge said Thursday that a state trooper who was caught on video kicking his police dog was fired under improper pressure from the governor's office and should be reinstated with back pay.
The ruling from administrative law Judge Fred Morrison Jr. is a recommendation, and the fate of former Trooper Charles Jones rests with the State Personnel Commission. The Highway Patrol, which maintains Jones was fired independently of Gov. Mike Easley's opinion, said it will fight to keep Jones out of the patrol.
A cell phone video, taken by another trooper in August, shows Jones suspending the dog, Ricoh, from a railing and then kicking him at least five times. The video and testimony in an earlier hearing before Morrison showed that troopers used beatings, stun guns and other methods to discipline and train the patrol's dogs. On April 30, officials suspended the patrol's canine program. The state official who oversees the patrol said Thursday that the program could be reinstated within two months.
Morrison's decision on Jones comes after an April hearing. Jones' attorney said Thursday that he was pleased with the decision, which also recommends that the state pay Jones' attorney's fees.
Morrison wrote in his decision that he thinks Jones was fired because officials in the governor's office saw the video and said Jones had to go.
"Because of pressure felt from the governor's office, the Patrol did not give meaningful consideration to [Jones'] responses to the charges against him," Morrison wrote.
Bryan Beatty, secretary of the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, which oversees the patrol, said he talked to the Governor's Office and knew Easley wanted Jones out. But Beatty said he -- not Easley -- made the decision to fire Jones.
"The governor and I have worked together for many years, and he is the governor, and he appointed me, but he appointed me and expects me to make the decisions that are based on the facts," Beatty said. "I never had a difference in opinion once I had all the information and saw all the facts."
Easley has not backed off his stance on Jones. A spokesman released an unsolicited statement Thursday after Morrison ruled.
"Dog experts say Trooper Jones' conduct was completely unacceptable," Easley said in the statement. "If the state has to resort to that level of cruelty to train dogs as demonstrated in the video by Trooper Jones, then they will simply not be in the dog business."
Beatty said Thursday that he expects to have a decision on whether to continue the program within about two months.
"I believe we can find a way to reinstate the K-9 program in a way that carries out the patrol's mission," Beatty said.
The reinstated program would have new training policies and may change or limit the role of patrol dogs, which were used for drug sniffing, tracking and to help keep suspects under control.
Morrison, the judge, had his own thoughts about the program's future. In his six-page opinion, which lists by name eight dogs Morrison has owned, Morrison recommended that the patrol buy dogs that are already fully trained and would be handled by troopers who are also trained and who have to follow written guidelines.
The patrol's 10 dogs are living with their Highway Patrol handlers. They are not working.
Ricoh, a Belgian Malinois, is living with a different trooper and has been retired from service. | Source: News Observer - June 6, 2008
Update posted on Jul 11, 2008 - 11:39AM |
A court hearing began Monday to decide whether a state trooper fired for alleged animal abuse will get his job back.
Former Sgt. Charles Jones, a 12-year veteran in charge of K-9 training for the Highway Patrol, was fired in September after another trooper turned over two 15-second video clips of him allegedly abusing his K-9 partner, Ricoh.
The Office of Administrative Hearings – a quasi-judicial agency – began proceedings Monday in a lawsuit that Jones filed against the state in December, alleging that procedures were violated when he was fired. The hearing will reconvene on Tuesday.
Monday's proceedings focused on the video clips that Trooper Ray Herndon recorded on his cell phone after he saw Jones using what he thought might be abusive techniques at a training exercise in Garner last summer.
"I was torn; I didn't know what to do. Should I go stop him?" Herndon, a 21-year-veteran of the force, testified Monday. "So I did what I thought was right at the time."
Court documents say the incident began when Ricoh refused to release a chew reward. One video shows Jones tying the dog's leash to a high railing so that only his hind legs touched the ground. He then kicked the dog's leg four times.
"Then he'd pull him back up a good distance off the ground, using the lead in an attempt to get the dog to lech the toy or let the toy go," Herndon said. He added that he did not think Jones was intentionally trying to harm or abuse Ricoh.
The second video clip shows Jones apparently leaving the dog alone, hanging upright from its leash and collar.
Jones' lawyer, Jack O'Hale, claimed that the video clips show Jones using training techniques that he had been taught by the Highway Patrol. Ricoh was a particularly aggressive dog that required extra training, the attorney said.
"Sgt. Jones acted in the manner in which he was trained, even though it was an ugly manner," O'Hale said.
The Highway Patrol's manual does not specify any dog-training methods that are banned or allowed, O'Hale said. He described commonly used methods, such as swinging a dog around by the neck or wrestling it to the ground and holding its jaws open, that could be considered abusive.
Capt. Ken Castelloe, head of the patrol's internal affairs office, testified that the first video clip was ordinary, but not the second. Castelloe said he was disturbed that Jones had left Ricoh after the dog dropped the toy.
Bryan Beatty, secretary of the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, testified that Jones was fired only after a careful review.
"I concluded that that was not a technique that anyone had seen," Beatty said. "It was not a technique that was acceptable within Highway Patrol policy."
O'Hale repeated charged that the Governor's Press Office pressured the Highway Patrol to fire Jones without due process. In a deposition last week, Lt. Col. Cecil Lockley said that "unlawful political intervention" forced him to fire Jones.
Beatty and the Highway Patrol made public their intentions to fire Jones a day before his pre-dismissal hearing, O'Hale said.
The assistant district attorney argued that the video itself provided enough evidence to justify Jones' firing, and the state did not act inappropriately.
In court documents, the Highway Patrol said that Beatty, not Lockley, made the final decision to fire Jones.
O'Hale argued that Jones became a victim of the Highway Patrol's efforts to clean up after a series of embarrassing misconduct allegations were laid against troopers. The incident also occurred during the height of the dog-fighting scandal surrounding Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, the attorney said.
Gov. Mike Easley ordered the Highway Patrol to hire a consultant to review its procedures, including the hiring, training and promotion of troopers. The consultant's findings are expected in the next few weeks.
A veterinarian examined Ricoh and found that he was OK shortly after the training exercise. The Highway Patrol removed Ricoh from Jones' care, and the dog is no longer actively working on the force. | Source: WRAL - April 30, 2008
Update posted on May 4, 2008 - 4:21PM |
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