Dog shot
Whitesville, WV (US)

Incident Date: Friday, Feb 15, 2008
County: Boone

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Charles Holbrook

Titan limped in, nuzzled his master and flopped down on the linoleum floor. The fur was shaved off about half his body. There were still marks from the 500 stitches he had needed recently.

As Titan trembled a little, he was introduced.

"This is the ferocious dog the man says bit him, and so he shot him five times," said Jimmy Platt, a 53-year-old Boone County resident who is Titan's owner.

Titan is a 3-year-old chocolate Labrador Retriever. He is also a survivor.

He was shot five times with a pistol Feb. 15 in an alley outside his family's apartment.

A State Police trooper arrested a neighbor, Charles Holbrook, and charged him with being a felon in possession of a firearm, two counts of shooting within five hundred feet of a dwelling or roadway and animal cruelty.

Holbrook admitted the shooting but told the trooper he was acting in self-defense because the dog had bitten him.

Trooper Brian Guthrie says he doesn't buy that story.

"He's telling me he had several encounters with this dog," Guthrie said. "He said the previous night he had encounters with the dog. The next day, he had dealings with it. He is claiming self-defense.

"He said the dog had attacked him, and emergency medical services was called to his house to attend to some injuries he had received. I talked to EMS afterwards, and they said the injuries weren't consistent with a dog attack. It was minor. I ended up charging this guy. He needed to be charged."

Guthrie says he could have charged Holbrook with more serious crimes, but witnesses were afraid to speak out against the man.

"With the help of some eyewitnesses, the case would have been stronger," Guthrie said. "But unfortunately, people tend to be scared of certain people, and they decided to stay reserved."

The horrible day began when Titan awoke Jimmy, who works nights at a Sylvester company, SCP, that provides belt cleaners and scrapers for the coal mining industry. It was 2:30 in the afternoon.

Jimmy let Titan out into the alley behind the apartment. But Jimmy stayed inside to clear the cobwebs out of his head.

"Then I heard the shots. I panicked. I flew out the door, and here comes my dog holding his leg up. Blood was everywhere."

Jimmy saw Holbrook there. He says the man told him, "I hit him with my cane."

Jimmy knew that wasn't true. "You shot my dog. Why would you shoot my dog?"

He said the man responded, "He tried to bite me."

The Platts think the most likely scenario is that Titan thought the cane the man uses on a regular basis was actually a stick intended for play. They say it's possible Titan nipped the man while roughhousing. They say Titan does not have an aggressive reputation in the community.

Shooting Titan five times was an extreme overreaction under any circumstance, they say.

The Platts' daughter, 23-year-old Crystal Austin, chased Holbrook down the alley, screaming. Jimmy's sister Carrie ran out into the street, saw Trooper Guthrie's cruiser stopped at a light and flagged him down for help.

Jimmy wrapped Titan in a blanket in an attempt to comfort the dog and slow the bleeding. Crystal drove Jimmy and Titan to get help from a veterinarian 38 miles away in Madison.

"She drives like a maniac," Jimmy said proudly. "She had enough sense to get in the car and drive 80 miles an hour."

They went to the office of veterinarian Mark Music. Jimmy explained he had no money on him to pay for help. Music took Titan right back anyway.

Titan had been shot in his front shoulder, his hip and his lower abdomen. The veterinarian opened him up to check for internal bleeding. Sure enough, his stomach was full of blood and had to be drained. The shooting also had damaged Titan's spleen, but it did not need to be removed.

"He didn't think he had a chance of saving my dog's life, but they did," Jimmy said. "They're my heroes."

Now he's going through physical therapy. He at first needed an antibiotic. He takes a muscle relaxant at night to help him sleep. He also needs an arthritis medicine.

He has so much trouble getting up and down the apartment stairs, the family will probably need to find a new home. He quakes when anything is aimed at him. He doesn't know the difference between a camera and a cordless drill or a gun.

Doctors are trying to save Titan's front leg, which was shot. X-rays to be taken on Friday might reveal whether the leg can be saved.

"People say 'Why didn't you put him to sleep?' " said 51-year-old Nancy Platt, Jimmy's wife.

"We thought about it, but that would be like putting your baby to sleep. Even if he ends up with three legs, we still have him."

For his whole life, Titan has been spoiled rotten.

The Platts got him when he was a puppy. Nancy was working for a local bank back then. A woman she worked with had a litter of chocolate labs and was selling them. She told Nancy she had one she wanted to give to a good home. Nancy said yes right away.

He got his name because, although he was small, he seemed to believe he was mighty. Crystal was in college when the family first got Titan. She was home and was lying around watching TV with some friends. Titan would ambush them and attack their feet.

"She said to call him Titan because he was always attacking," Nancy said.

At first, Titan was supposed to be an outside dog. But it was winter and he was only 7 weeks old, and the family didn't have the heart to send him out in the cold. Through sheer personality, he also got dining room privileges. He can stay as the family eats. Often, he eats, too.

"That's my baby," Nancy said. "Our kids are all grown. He's our baby."

The Platts are trying to raise money to pay for Titan's ongoing medical bills. A fundraiser dinner earlier this month led to $800 in donations. They suggest anyone who wants to donate can send a check to this address: P.O. Box 174, Attention Titan, Sylvester, WV 25193.

Meanwhile, Jimmy applied for a medical card for pets.

"I don't have a credit card, but my dog does," he quipped.

The Platts told their story from Carrie's Country Corner Market, a Whitesville general store and restaurant where Nancy works as a waitress. As they talked, a regular customer walked by and greeted Titan, who was docile on the floor.

"That dog's 10 feet tall and bulletproof," the man said admiringly.

Jimmy beamed with pride and responded, "He's a miracle."

References

• « WV State Animal Cruelty Map
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