April 2010
Owner Plans to File Suit against Jefferson Parish
Sheriff's Office
(Metairie,
La) - After watching a video on Youtube, explaining how to make a potato gun,
22 year-old Jordan Reimer and his friend, Josh DiMaggio, put one together and
tested it. The first attempt on Thursday, March 25th, failed to fire. On
Friday, March 26th,around 5: 00 pm they went outside again to test their
contraption. They set up a target on their property, aimed, and fired the
potato gun, which made a large bang. After the successful firing, Jordan and
his friend went back inside.
Twenty
minutes later, they heard another large bang and then another. There in
Jordan's yard was a Jefferson Parish Sheriff's deputy standing in front of his
dog, Sandy, a red-nosed pit bull, which was about three feet in front of him
with his sidearm drawn. Neighbors apparently had called the police after
hearing the discharge from the potato gun. The first two shots fired by the
officer missed Sandy. Jordan yelled at the officer not to shoot his dog. He
cried that his dog was harmless and wouldn't bite. The officer looked at Jordan
and then looked back at the dog and proceeded to shoot him as the dog was
turning to run away. The shot caused the dog to collapse in the yard. The
bullet entered into Sandy's back, near her spine. The dog sat down, turned and
looked at her shooter.
Sobbing,
Jordan ran toward this dog, who was now bleeding profusely, and he cradled her
in his arms. Sandy gasped three to four times and expired in his arms. Jordan
cradled Sandy for the next 30 minutes, sobbing, holding her in his arms next to
his chest. Jordan yelled for his mom and his friend Josh to get the badge names
of the deputies involved in the shooting. All of them turned away or covered up
their name tags. Josh, meanwhile, began to hyperventilate and suffered a
debilitating panic attack, with his pulse raising to more than 270. Josh then
had a seizure and blacked out. An ambulance was dispatched and Josh was taken
to the hospital for treatment.
Jordan
was asked by one of the deputies if he wanted to have the SPCA come over and
take away the dog's body. Jordan said that he just wanted to bury his dog in
his own backyard. He was told that he couldn't do that until everyone had left.
A crime lab technician entered the property and took photos of the bloody and
dead dog, flopping his body around, in order to take photos.
Before
leaving, an officer said that he would be charged with a noise abatement
violation and that the names of the investigating officers would be listed on
his citation. With that, all the officers left the scene. No investigation was
ever done, no questions were asked. A young man was simply left in his own yard
holding his lifeless dog in his lap. Jordan was later told that Officer Shane
Rivolo had answered the call and shot his dog to death.
"This
is the epitome of a callous deputy and his fellow officers, poorly trained in
dealing with barking dogs and the public. 50% of all households have pets, and
dogs will bark at anyone entering their property, no exception. And, yet, we
receive countless calls, just like this one, where police don't ask any
questions, don't try to ask the owner to restrain their dogs, don't take any
non-lethal, easy-to-use methods of calming down a barking dog, they simply draw
they pistol, and kill family pets, leaving in their wake a nightmare for the
family to deal with," says Jeff Dorson, Executive Director of the Humane
Society of Louisiana.
The group
intends to file a complaint with the internal affairs division of the Jefferson
Parish Sheriff's Office and will help Jordan prepare a lawsuit against
Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office for the wrongful death of his dog and for the
subsequent emotional distress and suffering caused to both Jordan and his
friend Josh.
"I
never thought that something this terrible would happen to me in my own home. I
am devastated by all of this: how my wonderful and loving dog was shot to death
in front of me, the course treatment of me and my family and friends by the
police, and their total lack of sensitivity on every level. I still see Sandy's
face as she lay dying when I wake up each morning," says Jordan.
What:
Step-by-step review of the shooting of Sandy by Jordan Reimer, witness and
Sandy's owner
When:
Monday, April 5th, noon to 1: 00 pm
Where: A
residence where shooting occurred, 2521 Elise, Metairie (near W. Napoleon)
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