What is the name of your state?Colorado
I was bitten by a woman's dog 2 times. I never made an official report. I was nice and just told the girl to get the dog trained, pay for my pants and promise to never let it off its leash. A month after the 2nd bite, my brother was bitten.
These bites were painful and scary but did not require medical attention at a hospital. Both of us are now 'scared' of dogs that approach us on or off leash and frequently have to sternly address dog owners to control their animals.
After the third bite, the owner of the dog in question begged us not to file a police report and agreed to pay $200 to keep the incident private, pay for the pain of the bite, the torn pants, anxiety, etc.. She promised to bring the dog to a training school to change its behavior and to show us proof of this upon the completion of this training. The girl paid us $100 by check and said she would pay the other $100 in a few weeks. She was apologetic but at times she was very unapologetic saying that she would only have to pay $100 to the city for a ticket, citing the 3 bite law thinking that a dog is allowed three bites before any action is taken. (The 3 bite law allows for a dog to be destroyed after 3 documented bites) I was not very pleased but agreed that for $200 we would not file a report and would not seek any other sort of compensation, case closed. Three weeks went by and the girl did not make any effort to contact us. She lives 3 doors down the hall in my apt. building so recently I left a 'gentle' note on the door reminding her of her agreement/obligation to pay and asked her to get in touch to make arrangements. I said that she did not have to pay the whole $100 at once and we could work something out. No response. I left another note saying that I found it to be of poor character to take advantage of someone's good will that was bit by your dog and not fulfill your verbal agreement to pay. I asked in the letter for her to get in contact with us. No response. I left another note admonishing her for being nothing more than 'white trash' and told her that her behavior was reprehensible and that I would seek legal counsel and most likely file civil suit if she did not at least respond to work things out reasonably as would be expected. No response. A few days later I knocked on her door. I heard her inside talking with someone else and they pretended that they were not there. I left and returned minutes later and knocked again. This time she came to the door and told me that she was done with this, did not want to talk to me, 'it is over' and told me to go away and that any more attempts at contacting her would be viewed as harassment. I told her, through the closed door that I thought she was a scumbag and she should be ashamed and I left.
Less than an hour later the police knocked at my door. I answered thinking that I would be able to talk to them about the situation and possibly at least get them to request that the girl do something about her vicious dog. Not so. I was yanked forcibly against my will from my apt. into the hall, handcuffed with my hands behind my head, spoken to like a criminal, accused of extortion and searched. The search revealed contraband and a small container containing a small amount of controlled substance. The officers went into the house, yanked out my brother, cuffed him, searched the house and found some more contraband and controlled substance. They had with them the letters that I had posted on the girls door. They showed us the letters and said that was all they needed to proceed with extortion charges. We were brought to jail, booked and charged with Extortion (CRS 18-3-207 2) and PCS (CRS 18-18-405). We were at that time read our rights and declined to answer any questions. We spent the night in jail. We have since bonded out.
I am a little upset that what was my attempt at reconciling this incident peacefully was turned into a trip to jail and felony charges. I have hired a lawyer but have not yet spoken with him in detail. I am curious how likely it is that this will go to trial and based upon my summary, what the outcome of such a trial would most likely be.
The drug charges are particularly disturbing as I was searched without consent as the officers said they had probable cause based on whatever it was the girl told them. I don't know what it was the girl told them, but I am sure that whatever it was, it was not true and cannot be proven as I have never threatened her, stalked her, touched her or attempted to do any of those things. The amounts of substance discovered were minimal (less than a gram) but it wasn't weed, much worse. Contraband consisted of a spoon and a pipe constructed of aluminum foil.
Do I have any grounds to file civil or criminal charges against the girl if it is shown that she knowingly misled the police by telling them lies about the circumstances leading to my arrest? I'm certain that she told them that I was either stalking, menacing, harassing her and that she was 'afraid' of what I might do. Any claims of this sort would be totally unsubstantiated and untrue. The police did not know anything about the dog bites and did not believe me when I told them about the dog bites. They had the letters I wrote and told me that because one of them used the word "reprehensible" that I was making threats. The police were uneducated thugs and apparently did not understand what the word means and thought it meant something threatening. I did not demand money in the letters, I only demanded that she make an attempt to contact me by phone or by coming to my door. There is on file with the dept. of animal control a complaint of a biting dog/barking dog made by me a week before this incident. Contact has not been made as of yet, but is scheduled soon. I am wondering also if there is any sort of 'illegal search and seizure' aspect regarding the search that would work in my favor as I don't really see what probable cause the police had to do what they did.
Thank you,
g
I was bitten by a woman's dog 2 times. I never made an official report. I was nice and just told the girl to get the dog trained, pay for my pants and promise to never let it off its leash. A month after the 2nd bite, my brother was bitten.
These bites were painful and scary but did not require medical attention at a hospital. Both of us are now 'scared' of dogs that approach us on or off leash and frequently have to sternly address dog owners to control their animals.
After the third bite, the owner of the dog in question begged us not to file a police report and agreed to pay $200 to keep the incident private, pay for the pain of the bite, the torn pants, anxiety, etc.. She promised to bring the dog to a training school to change its behavior and to show us proof of this upon the completion of this training. The girl paid us $100 by check and said she would pay the other $100 in a few weeks. She was apologetic but at times she was very unapologetic saying that she would only have to pay $100 to the city for a ticket, citing the 3 bite law thinking that a dog is allowed three bites before any action is taken. (The 3 bite law allows for a dog to be destroyed after 3 documented bites) I was not very pleased but agreed that for $200 we would not file a report and would not seek any other sort of compensation, case closed. Three weeks went by and the girl did not make any effort to contact us. She lives 3 doors down the hall in my apt. building so recently I left a 'gentle' note on the door reminding her of her agreement/obligation to pay and asked her to get in touch to make arrangements. I said that she did not have to pay the whole $100 at once and we could work something out. No response. I left another note saying that I found it to be of poor character to take advantage of someone's good will that was bit by your dog and not fulfill your verbal agreement to pay. I asked in the letter for her to get in contact with us. No response. I left another note admonishing her for being nothing more than 'white trash' and told her that her behavior was reprehensible and that I would seek legal counsel and most likely file civil suit if she did not at least respond to work things out reasonably as would be expected. No response. A few days later I knocked on her door. I heard her inside talking with someone else and they pretended that they were not there. I left and returned minutes later and knocked again. This time she came to the door and told me that she was done with this, did not want to talk to me, 'it is over' and told me to go away and that any more attempts at contacting her would be viewed as harassment. I told her, through the closed door that I thought she was a scumbag and she should be ashamed and I left.
Less than an hour later the police knocked at my door. I answered thinking that I would be able to talk to them about the situation and possibly at least get them to request that the girl do something about her vicious dog. Not so. I was yanked forcibly against my will from my apt. into the hall, handcuffed with my hands behind my head, spoken to like a criminal, accused of extortion and searched. The search revealed contraband and a small container containing a small amount of controlled substance. The officers went into the house, yanked out my brother, cuffed him, searched the house and found some more contraband and controlled substance. They had with them the letters that I had posted on the girls door. They showed us the letters and said that was all they needed to proceed with extortion charges. We were brought to jail, booked and charged with Extortion (CRS 18-3-207 2) and PCS (CRS 18-18-405). We were at that time read our rights and declined to answer any questions. We spent the night in jail. We have since bonded out.
I am a little upset that what was my attempt at reconciling this incident peacefully was turned into a trip to jail and felony charges. I have hired a lawyer but have not yet spoken with him in detail. I am curious how likely it is that this will go to trial and based upon my summary, what the outcome of such a trial would most likely be.
The drug charges are particularly disturbing as I was searched without consent as the officers said they had probable cause based on whatever it was the girl told them. I don't know what it was the girl told them, but I am sure that whatever it was, it was not true and cannot be proven as I have never threatened her, stalked her, touched her or attempted to do any of those things. The amounts of substance discovered were minimal (less than a gram) but it wasn't weed, much worse. Contraband consisted of a spoon and a pipe constructed of aluminum foil.
Do I have any grounds to file civil or criminal charges against the girl if it is shown that she knowingly misled the police by telling them lies about the circumstances leading to my arrest? I'm certain that she told them that I was either stalking, menacing, harassing her and that she was 'afraid' of what I might do. Any claims of this sort would be totally unsubstantiated and untrue. The police did not know anything about the dog bites and did not believe me when I told them about the dog bites. They had the letters I wrote and told me that because one of them used the word "reprehensible" that I was making threats. The police were uneducated thugs and apparently did not understand what the word means and thought it meant something threatening. I did not demand money in the letters, I only demanded that she make an attempt to contact me by phone or by coming to my door. There is on file with the dept. of animal control a complaint of a biting dog/barking dog made by me a week before this incident. Contact has not been made as of yet, but is scheduled soon. I am wondering also if there is any sort of 'illegal search and seizure' aspect regarding the search that would work in my favor as I don't really see what probable cause the police had to do what they did.
Thank you,
g
