Officer cleared by department in dog shooting

An internal investigation conducted by the Kalispell Police Department into the July 20 shooting of an aggressive dog has cleared the officer of any wrongdoing, police said.

"We have found that the officer acted completely within policy and did what was necessary to protect himself from an attack by the dog," said Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nasset.

Officials launched the investigation after Mark and Pattie Irvine, the parents of the dog's owner, threatened to sue the department.

"We are currently investigating a very possible civil rights claim," said the Irvines' attorney, Thane Johnson, of the Kalispell firm Johnson, Berg, McEvoy, and Bostock.

After the incident, Mark Irvine was arrested for disorderly conduct, obstructing a police officer, failure to license the dog, dog at large and having a vicious animal - all misdemeanors.

The Irvines allege the shooting, which seriously injured but did not kill the dog, was unprovoked and dangerous.

But police say the dog charged an officer - who did not fire his weapon in an unsafe manner and was justified in the use of deadly force.

"We completely support the officer's action," Nasset said. "Unfortunately it resulted in a dog being injured, which is directly related to the owner's unwillingness to control his animal."

According to police logs, officers - including Patrolman Chad Zimmerman - were dispatched to the 1100 block of Second Avenue West at 9:05 p.m. on July 20 to investigate a loose dog complaint.

A neighbor had reported that when she confronted Mark Irvine about the loose pet, he grabbed a stick and began yelling at her, said Kalispell Police Lt. Jim Brenden.

Irvine denies that incident occurred, according to his attorneys.

After the dog was shooed from a third neighbor's yard back onto the Irvines' property, police say the 60-pound, pit-bull-Dalmation mix turned on officers and, from its haunches, began to growl and bark.

The dog, named Snowball, was about five feet from Zimmerman - who had his service weapon drawn and safely held against his chest in the "low ready" position, police said. Mark Irvine was standing about 10 feet away from the dog.

A second officer, in regular uniform, was also on scene with his Taser out. Zimmerman was wearing a clearly recognizable bike patrol uniform with badge and utility belt, police said.

"Officers are taught when facing an attack by a pit bull not to rely on non-lethal force," said Nasset, noting that Tasers aren't guaranteed, or designed, to stop a charging dog. "That wasn't practical for what occurred."

Officers reportedly told Mark Irvine at least twice to contain his dog before it charged Zimmerman, forcing him to shoot it in the head. The bullet, fired at a downward angle from close range, entered near the dog's eye and exited from her throat, spending itself in the ground.

But some witnesses said they never saw the dog leave its haunches, according to private investigative reports.

"When [one neighbor] opened the front door she observed the Irvine dog with his butt still on the ground approximately 5 to 8 feet away from the officer with the gun, get up and run off toward the Irvine residence," the report stated.

A second witness - who, according to the same report, characterized the officer's actions as "out of line," - saw the incident from across an alleyway and also said he never saw the dog charge.

Pattie Irvine, who was inside the house when the shooting occurred, alleges she saw Zimmerman's gun pointed at her husband when she looked through a bedroom window.

Police, however, found that at no time did Zimmerman - the department's extensively trained firearms instructor - point his gun at anything but the dog and the ground.

Witnesses are reported to have corroborated both the Irvines' and police's version of events.

Any civil rights lawsuit against the police department would be filed in U.S. District Court in Missoula, but only after the adjudication of the criminal charges against Irvine in Kalispell municipal court.

"The dog did not deserve what she got," Pattie Irvine said. "My husband does not deserve what happened to him either."

At the time of the incident, Irvine was serving a 10-year probationary sentence for burglary. He had been convicted of stealing property from a neighbor and ordered to pay more than $40,000 in restitution.

As part of his plea bargain with Flathead County prosecutors, Irvine agreed not to enter Columbia Falls, Hungry Horse, or West Glacier.

In a separate Flathead County District Court case, Irvine was fined $13,000 last year for improperly dumping sewage and other waste on a farm near Creston.

Reporter Nicholas Ledden can be reached at 758-4441 or by e-mail at nledden@dailyinterlake.com