Driving home from the KOA today I heard the KSL evening talk show hosts discussing this and getting audience response which was about 50/50 about whom they supported. The funniest thing was when one of the hosts said, "well it's in Garden City, they do things like this in little towns all the time." ummm. Those radio personalities are just city snobs. - Editor
Reprinted from KSL.com. Written by Dennis Romboy
GARDEN CITY, Rich County — A Rich County man says a neighbor wrongfully shot his dog to death after the man found it with one of his son's pet ducks in its mouth. Robert H. Anderson claims in a federal lawsuit filed this week in Salt Lake City that Benjamin B. Negus came home from church Jan. 15, 2012, to see the white husky named Daisy leaving his property carrying a dead duck. Negus "lured" the dog into the back cab of his pickup and drove to a gas station where he talked with Rich County sheriff's deputy Dennis Salzetti, according to the suit. Negus asked Salzetti if he had the right to kill the dog, and the deputy said that he did. According to the lawsuit, Negus drove the dog to another place "to shoot the animal once in the guts and once in the head." Salzetti then went to Anderson's house to tell him the dog had been killed. Negus initially refused to tell Anderson where he left the dog, but after a couple of days he "dumped the remains on the road" outside Anderson's property, the suit says.
The Negus family declined to comment Friday. Anderson is seeking compensation for "extreme emotional distress" over the killing of Daisy. "The value of the dog, given the heartfelt relationship between dog and master, is priceless, but not less than $10,000, or such greater amount as shall be proven at trial," according to the lawsuit. Salzetti violated state law and due process when he told Negus he could shoot the dog and failed to get Anderson's side of the story "before the summary execution," the lawsuit says. Anderson said when he complained to the sheriff's office about the killing, Rich County charged him with a class B misdemeanor for allowing a vicious animal to run at large. A justice court jury later acquitted him. In addition to Negus and Salzetti, the lawsuit names Rich County, the sheriff's office and Sheriff Dale Stacey as defendants. Rich County Attorney George Preston did not respond to telephone and email messages for comment. 
4 comments:
Anderson is a blight on our community. I home he goes down over this!
This story made me sick. I cannot believe Mr. Negus could be so horribly cold-blooded. Every aspect of this was handled poorly from the deputy allegedly giving Mr. Negus permission to kill the pet to Mr. Negus leaving the dead dog outside the owner's property days later. Mr. Negus should have handled this like an adult and spoken with Mr. Anderson about replacing the duck, and possibly involving law enforcement if the dog was a true threat.
I am not sure what Mr. Wahlberg is expecting to happen in court when he states that he hopes Mr. Anderson "goes down" over this. The way I see it, Mr. Anderson has a valid complaint.
As a dog lover and pet owner, this case was not handled the best by both parties. HOWEVER by state law the pet owner is responsible for the pet, regardless of what it does. Mr. Negus was well within his rights by Utah statute to kill the dog. Perhaps Mr. Anderson should take responsibility for allowing his dog to roam. Prior to the dogs death I had it in the back of my truck, without any "luring", at the Garden City park, it jumped out and ran off.
Perhaps the money being used by Mr. Anderson to pay for lawyers would be best used to get a better dog kennel.
Lesson to anyone: Don't ever tell anyone you've killed their family pet. Yes, this does happen in rural America quite often. Are the tax payers of Rich county willing to fund a dog shelter and ALL the expenses of animal care for the few animal owners that shouldn't have pets to begin with? I would hope NOT.
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