DOG DAY AFTERNOON

Oregonian, The (Portland, OR) - September 20, 1997

Author/Byline: STEVE DUIN - of The Oregonian staff<

Edition: SUNRISE
Section: LOCAL STORIES
Page: C01
Readability: 6-8 grade level (Lexile: 1010)
Sungate is one of those sunlit subdivisions where kids play in the cul-de-sacs and dogs snooze in the driveways. Where neighbors know
not to ring the doorbells after lunch when the babies are down for their naps.
And where, it turns out, off-duty Portland police officers go jogging with .38 caliber revolvers in their fanny packs and -- on the darkest of
sunny days -- shoot and kill the yellow Lab that rushes out to meet them.
Early Thursday afternoon, Jane Scheidler had just finished mowing her front lawn and was dumping the clippings at the side of her twostory house when she heard her dog bark.
The dog, a 3-year-old Lab named George with a little retriever in his blood, was lying in the Scheidler's driveway when he saw a jogger
coming down Southeast 41st Street.
George, who weighs in at close to 100 pounds, went rolling out onto the street. Scheidler called after the Lab and quickly moved to the
top of her driveway.
She saw the jogger backing into the cul-de-sac across from her house and George -- playfully, Scheidler thought -- following him.
That's when she heard the ``pop.''
``I saw this guy going like this with his gun,'' said Scheidler, indicating a shooting motion. ``George came running back across the street.
He had all this blood in his mouth.''
``What did you do?'' Scheidler screamed at the jogger.
``I shot your dog, m'am,'' replied Officer John Hurlman of the Portland Police Bureau.
The Lab died 10 minutes later en route to the vet's office.
The shooting didn't prompt much of an initial reaction at the Portland Police Bureau.
``A dog's not a big deal, so we didn't do much with it,'' said Lt. Cliff Madison, a police spokesman.
But Michael Rouches, the day-watch supervisor with the Hillsboro police, said his office still was investigating the dog's death.
``The difficult part of this? If he shot and killed the dog without justification, it's a felony crime,'' Rouches said.
Hurlman, 33, told Rouches that George was ``snapping, growling and barking at him.''
Hurlman, who works out of East Precinct and claims he never before had discharged his weapon in nine years on the force, refused
further comment Friday.
His wife, who declined to give her name, said Hurlman ``felt terrible, but the dog was definitely going to attack him. He backed him all the
way into the cul-de-sac. The dog kept advancing and advancing. When the dog jumped up, he shot him. Which was prudent and justified.''
That, at least, was Hurlman's story. Colleen Brown, a neighbor who was standing no more than 100 feet behind Hurlman when he shot
the dog, had a different version.
``George didn't look or sound mean,'' Brown said. ``He wasn't growling. He wasn't barking. It was, `Heh, heh, heh, are you going to play
with me?' I can't believe he didn't see Jane coming around the corner. He didn't wait any time at all before pulling the gun and shooting
him.''
``Someone supposedly trained for restraint and control didn't show much,'' said Jane Scheidler's husband, Jeff.
The Scheidlers and Brown said George was playful, but never vicious. Stacie Backus, who lives next door to the Scheidlers and admits

she's ``terrified of dogs, regardless of their sizes,'' maintains George was the ``friendliest, most wonderful dog. I never saw him approach
anyone in a threatening manner.''
Portland officers are authorized, Madison said, to carry their guns while off-duty. And, Rouches added, ``It's not illegal to discharge a gun
in this city under certain circumstances. If (Hurlman) felt his life was threatened, or he faced serious bodily harm, then he's justified in the
shooting.''
Rouches said he thought residents of Sungate still were struggling with the realization that men are jogging through their neighborhood
with guns -- ``and with a legal right to do so.''
The shooting, Rouches admitted, baffled him. ``I haven't known Labs to be aggressive,'' he said, ``but that's just my experience.
(Hurlman) said he was scared. I can't get inside his head. But he's a mild-mannered guy. He's not the John Wayne kind of cop.
``I feel bad for him. I feel really bad for the family.''
At the Scheidler's home, pictures of their 18-month-old son, Joe, with his arm wrapped around the dog still hang along the staircase.
``He'll wonder in awhile why George is gone,'' Jane Scheidler said.
And when Joe gets a little older, he'll wonder -- as should the rest of us -- how John Hurlman might have handled his first meeting with
that gregarious yellow Lab if he hadn't had the option of reaching for his gun.
You can reach Steve Duin by phone at 221-8597, by fax at 294-5159, by e-mail at Steveduin@aol.com, or by mail at 1320 S.W.
Broadway, Portland 97201.
Index terms: Local Column; MISC ACCIDENT ANIMAL ATTACK POLICE SHOOTING DEATH
Dateline: Hillsboro
Record: 9709200382
Copyright: Copyright (c) 1997 Oregonian Publishing Co.