Owner has to give up pit bull
The Daily Inter Lake
A Kalispell man - who threatened to sue police for civil rights violations following his arrest after officers shot his charging dog - has been sentenced on misdemeanor charges related to the incident.
During a hearing Friday in Kalispell Municipal Court, Mark Robert Irvine, 46, was sentenced to jail time already served and ordered to forfeit the dog, a pit bull, to a rescue facility.
According to police logs, officers were dispatched in July 2008 to Irvine's home in the 1100 block of Second Avenue West to investigate a loose dog complaint.
A neighbor had called to report that when she confronted Irvine about the loose pet, he grabbed a wooden bat or piece of lumber and began yelling at her. Responding officers found the dog in another neighbor's yard and shooed it back onto the Irvines' property, according to investigators.
Officers said they told Irvine at least twice to contain the pit bull before it charged, forcing police to shoot it once in the head.
But Irvine alleged the shooting, which seriously injured but did not kill the dog, was unprovoked and dangerous. Some witnesses said they saw the dog bark but never charge.
Police, however, said the dog charged an officer, who was justified in the use of deadly force.
Irvine was arrested after the incident.
In March, after a three-day trial, he was convicted of disorderly conduct, obstructing a police officer, having a vicious dog, having a dog at large, and owning a dog without a city license.
The convictions will prevent Irvine from suing the police department for civil-rights violations.
Even though Irvine emerged from the hearing owing the city of Kalispell neither jail time nor fines, he still must serve prison time from an unrelated incident.
A week ago in Flathead County District Court, he was sentenced to serve nine years at Montana State Prison followed by a year of probation.
Irvine, who pleaded guilty to bail jumping charges, was accused of threatening to beat up a man who owed him money and then forcing him to stand in the Flathead River.
Pursuant to a plea bargain, robbery and assault with a weapon charges against Irvine were dropped.