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By Bob Schlesinger
It was early afternoon on Thursday, September 18, 1997. Jane Scheidler had just finished mowing the lawn and opened the gate to take the grass clippings around to the side of her house. The Scheidler's live in a very clean manicured subdivision called Sungate in Hillsboro on a cul-de-sac where kids often play and the neighbors all know one another.
George managed to sneak out the gate and then laid down next to the Scheidler's truck. George loved to go for rides so he may have liked to lie by the truck as a hint that he'd sure be happy if the family decided to go somewhere. Jane thought nothing of it as she went to dump the grass clippings.
At the same time, Colleen Brown, a neighbor who lives across the cul-de-sac from the Scheidlers, was just outside her front door. She noticed out of the corner of her eye, a man jogging into the cul-de-sac. She reported that there was something strange about the way the man was jogging. He was moving in a strange slow deliberate manner, not running in the way most joggers move. Suspicious, and knowing that Jane was outside working alone, she decided to keep an eye on him to see if he left the cul-de-sac and moved on.
Colleen next saw George get up from beside the truck and run out into the street to greet the man. George always loved to greet people and he was wagging his tail wildly. George probably thought the man wanted to play as he reached into his fanny pack, perhaps for a dog treat or toy. At this point, Colleen heard Jane yelling to George to get out of the street. Jane said later that she didn't notice the jogger so much as saw George run out into the street, and since he was not very car-smart, called to him to come in case there were cars that might suddenly pull into the area.
Standing at her front door, Colleen saw the jogger, who we now know was off-duty police officer John Hurlman, stop in the middle of the street and pull something out of a fanny pack he was wearing. At this point Hurlman was about 80 feet or so from Colleen with his back to her. Jane was running out into the street at this point and was facing Hurlman, and about 25 feet from him when she heard a loud pop sound. Colleen said that from her vantage point she saw Hurlman back away from the dog, and then heard the same loud pop sound.
George suddenly turned around whimpering and ran back to Jane who saw that he was bleeding from his mouth. Jane screamed at the man, "What did you do to my dog!". Hurlman replied "I shot your dog, ma'am." Jane told him she was going to call the police on him. Hurlman said "I am a police officer. You can call the Hillsboro police if you want. They won't do anything but if it will make you feel better you can call them".
By this time Colleen ran over and said she saw the whole thing. Once Hurlman realized there was a witness his demeanor changed. He started saying over and over "What do you want me to do? What do you want me to do?" Meanwhile George had collapsed and Jane was frantically trying to get him into the car to take him to the vet. Colleen was helping her. Hurlman then just left the scene, without any attempt to help.
George died about 10 minutes later, in the car on the way to Aloha Veterinary Clinic.
About an hour later Jane had returned home and she and Colleen were outside when Hurlman returned accompanied by a Hillsboro police officer to collect statements. Colleen stated that "George never growled, never barked, never lunged and never bit" and she then asked Hurlman "Why did you shoot him? He wasn't growling at you. He wasn't barking at you?" Hurlman scowled "No, but he was in my face."
Hurlman continued with the bizarre statement, "Would you rather he bite me or a baby? All other dogs go away. George wouldn't go away." He then said "I thought he was a stray dog. I didn't see anyone around".
Jane was about 25 feet away from Hurlman when George was shot, and was actually in his line of fire. Jane easily could have been hit with a stray bullet if Hurlman had fired again. Jane was yelling to George at the time, which Colleen Brown heard plainly standing 80 or so feet away.
Later, Jane heard through Michael Rouches of the Hillsboro police department that Hurlman had offered to pay for "the cost of the dog" if the Hillsboro police could mediate a settlement. Jane refused and called us asking if we knew of a lawyer that we could refer her to. We put her in touch with Claudia Cullison, who specializes in animal law. Claudia is now representing the Scheidlers in this case.
A memorial for George was held in Forest Park on October 11th.
It is more than obvious to us that John Hurlman is lying. He now claims that George lunged at him and that's when he fired. This is disputed by both Jane Scheidler and Colleen Brown, both in their accounts of their own observations and their accounts of what Hurlman said immediately following the incident. Moreover, the autopsy report indicates that George could not have been lunging at the time he was shot, and he was not shot at close range which would have been the case if Hurlman had really been threatened.
One has to question why an off-duty police officer feels the need to go jogging in a quiet residential neighborhood with a loaded gun in the first place. Then one has to ask why Hurlman did not even attempt non-lethal remedies if he thought the dog was a threat to him. Hurlman did not yell at the dog to get away. He did not wave his arms at him. He did not try to kick him. He could have taken off his fanny pack and hit George with it. There are any number of things he could have done. But he didn't, since George was no threat.
Steve Duin has followed this story in his Oregonian column. When he contacted Lt Cliff Madison of the Porland Police Department, (Hurlman is a Portland police officer) he was told "A dog's not a big deal so we didn't do much with it." As Duin points out in his column, this is quite a bit different than the reaction that Hillsboro police officer Bruce Kelley had when his K-9 partner Hondo was gunned down in the line of duty. Kelley said "It comes down to a police officer died that night. It doesn't matter if he has two legs or four legs."
It is this kind of cavalier attitude towards violence against animals by some police departments that spawns and gives comfort to the John Hurlmans of the world. The Portland police department, in the first days after this tragedy, then compounded the problem by initiating the expected "damage control" to protect one of its own.
The only way a recurrance of this kind of tragedy will be prevented is if John Hurlman is brought to justice, and if the police departments of the area, particularly the Portland police department, initiate a training program to teach officers how to understand and properly deal with animals.
As Steve Duin reports, the only training an officer now receives, "is that dogs can inflict serious injury". This from Lt. Dave Benson of the Portland bureau's training divison.
Duin continued by reporting that Mary Lee Nitschke, a psychology professor at Linfield College who specializes in animal behavior therapy told him that the shooting of George was not an isolated incident. Porland police officers routinely shoot dogs. "This thing of cops shooting dogs goes on and on and on." she said. "I hear quite a bit about it".
Everyone's dog is at risk here. You can help by taking action and telling authorities what you think as indicated below:
Washington County District Attorney's Office
Sue Hohbach, District Attorney
150 North 1st Avenue
Hillsboro, OR 97124
(503) 648-8671
Please thank the district attorney for her diligent investigation of this matter that has resulted in an indictment of Mr. Hurlman, and urge her to proceed to obtain a full conviction.
Portland Mayor's Office
Mayor Vera Katz
1220 SW 5th Ave Room 303
Portland, OR 97204
(503)823-4120
fax (503)823-3588
Tell the mayor why the police department needs to address this tragedy and change its ways.
Portland Police Department
Email: police@teleport.com
Internal Investigations
(503) 823-0236
Police Chief Charles A. Moose
1111 SW 2nd Avenue
Portland, OR 97204
(503) 823-0000
Tell the Police department why it is important that they initiate a training program for officers on how to handle animals.
Last updated December 7, 1997