Bizarre, Criminal law

Man Barks Dog: Ohio Man Charged With Barking At Police Dog

Ryan James Stephens, 25, has been charged with the rather bizarre offense of harassing a police dog by barking and hissing at the animal.

Officer Bradley Walker reported that he was investigating a car crash at a pub when he heard his police dog barking uncontrollably and found Stephens barking and hissing at the animal. Stephens’ defense was golden: the dog started it.

Even as a misdemeanor, I fail to see the crime here. Stephens should have been scolded as a “bad human” and sent on his way without a treat.

Source: IndeOnline

31 thoughts on “Man Barks Dog: Ohio Man Charged With Barking At Police Dog”

  1. Woosty

    gotta disagree with you one that one. the quality of police dogs differ same as the quality of police officers. as a resident of florida and receipient of more than one “we’re going to walk the dog around your car” stops. i can tell you without a doubt, some of the dogs couldn’t smell their own butt.

  2. I hope this fella doesn’t have TS. Tourette’s Syndrome.

    I know this one gentleman that has TS and barks uncontrollably,
    even around real dogs.

  3. J Brian Harris –

    It is my sincere hope that at some point in the agonizingly slow trudge called evolution, we learn to recognize that not all noise is “speech.”

    Championing human rights – at its most basic – ought to elevate the human condition. Anointing filth as a “right” is blessing garbage. Where’s the societal upside?

    I can think of at least two reasons why this mental midget merits being locked up, up to and including the fact that he exhibits clear danger to himself anytime he finds himself in the presence of authority.

    And then there’s the matter of Assault:

    “An intentional act by a person or persons that creates an apprehension in an imminent harmful or offensive contact.”

    I look at his arrest as one small upward tic in the improvement of society as a whole – because for at least one micro-second, not only was he forced to “think” neither was he able to spread his idiot gene.

    And for that I am immensely grateful.

  5. This took place in Cincinnati, Ohio. Hopefully Tommy Jefferson is on the case. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show “Harry’s Law”, Tommy Jefferson is an ambulance chasing attorney.)

  6. Methinks barking and hissing are vocal tract activities, and therefore are of protected free speech.

    When did acting out (not speech) become speech?

    Or, are there no words remaining in use which have any useful meaning?

  7. Pingback: Super Breed Chihuahua is shot 3 times by Barks Officer - Talk Delaware Online

  9. Tootie….that demonstration police dog must have been a very rare exception. Police dogs are rigorously trained and especially in restraint. It takes more than a wee bit of teasing to get them upset. Probably easier to get a cop angry than a police dog….unless you have drugs or weapons or bad intent about you….

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwwiXcTphzk?rel=0&w=480&h=390%5D

  10. While on a walk one day, a neighbor’s very large dog charged (raced) the fence by the roadside where I was and barked viciously at me. I was sure the dog was going over the fence to reach me. And I almost fainted.

    It stopped at the fence (after it sprinted across the entire yard to reach it) and in instant response to the terror I yelled at it called it an idiot or something similar. By the time I got the words out of my mouth, I saw the owner standing at the door.

    The next day or soon thereafter, the dog owner noticed me on the street walking by her house. She pulled over (in her car) and started grilling me about who I was, where I lived, did I know what kind of neighborhood this was, and insisted that her dog wasn’t an idiot (but merely frightened). I live in a neighborhood with lots of cops and firemen.

    I’m a short older woman walking down the middle of a public street and a vicious barking German Shepard behaving in a threatening manner is the only frightened thing this “neighbor” is worried about.

    I refused to tell my inquisitor neighbor where I lived, but I’m pretty sure she is a cop or the wife of a cop. These are the kind of people who populate our “protector” class.

    Anyway. I once went to a local festival/fair event in my town and the cops were giving a demonstration with their police dogs. One of the dogs continually failed to obey commands during mock attacks. It didn’t return when commanded either.

    I don’t know which is worse, the vicious cop dogs or the moronic cops that handle them. Oh wait, yes I do. It’s not the dogs.

  13. BTW:

    If this were New York and this was going before a Grand Jury,I have a juror in mind who may be sympathetic to the defendant and has some juror time on their hands.

    Judge gives ‘Juror No. 799’ indefinite jury duty after she makes racist remarks on questionnaire

    BY JOHN MARZULLI
    DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

    Wednesday, April 6th 2011, 4:00 AM

    Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2011/04/06/2011-04-06_verdict_yer_a_joke_judge_forces_woman_to_eternal_jury_duty_after_racist_remarks_.html#ixzz1IkVEw7rj

  14. I’m looking for a symbol on my keyboard which will indicate a sign of WTF.

  15. “Even as a misdemeanor, I fail to see the crime here. Stephens should have been scolded as a “bad human” and sent on his way without a treat.”
    ——————————————–
    I suspect that a grown person who does this needs more than a simple ‘move along’. Like Seeing Eye dogs…police dogs are workers…and it is not safe to harrass them. Not for the blind person who needs them and not for the jerk who thinks a dog behind a barrier is fair game…he’s lucky the dog had better restraint than he…

  17. Well gee. It’s not like the guy lifted his leg & marked the police car or dog. Now, that would have certainly made the whole thing more interesting, and legitimately an act of “exposure”

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