- Idaho, USA -
Let me say right away that the press release by Heyburn Police Chief Ryan Bertalotto and the version of a bystander, Stephanie Carsner, who identified herself as a professional animal rescuer, present two different scenarios of the incident.
Chief Bertalotto said that on Saturday, May 27, 2023, officers were dispatched by Minidoka County Sheriff to Interstate 84 near Mile Marker 211 about “two uncontrolled loose dogs on the freeway, causing traffic safety concerns.”
According to the release, officers arrived at 5:57 p.m. and found “the interstate completely stopped, prior to mile marker 212. Officers recognized the heightened traffic hazard as the speed limit of this section of Interstate is 80 miles per hour and traffic cannot stop abruptly.”
Chief Bertalotto went on to say that responding officers found two large dogs running loose on the interstate.
The release stated that “Two citizens risked their safety to try and capture the dogs to no avail.”
Chief Bertalotto claims that officers made efforts to call the dogs to them but the dogs were “uncooperative” and they were not in range to use a taser.
Officers then made the extremely questionable decision to murder the two dogs. As stated in the release, each dog was shot once and then removed from the roadway. Chief Bertalotto justified the killing in cold blood of two innocents with the following: “Recognizing traffic was heavy for Memorial Day, and in fear for the motoring public with great potential of a rear end collisions at 80 MPH, the officers made the decision to shoot the dogs at 6:03 P.M.”
According to the release, the Voiceless Victims were not wearing tags.
Stephanie Carsner filmed video of a portion of the incident. In her graphic video, both dogs can be seen laying on the ground motionless and while she and the cops exchange strong words, one of the two dogs can be seen lifting up his/her head for a few seconds. Maybe the dogs did not immediately die after being shot and suffered in agony until their deaths.
Chief Bertalotto has referred to the video in his press release and said: “Heyburn Police recognizes the distress this incident has caused in light of a bystander video that has been made public. The video was shot by a driver who stopped on the Interstate and
highlights the potential safety risks these dogs were presenting to the motoring public.”
If you watch Stephanie’s video, however, you will see that there is no traffic, and no cars.
Furthermore, Stephanie recounted the facts on her Facebook account and said: “An ISP officer had given me permission, as a rescuer, to catch these 2 dogs, that were not at all aggressive, just tired & thirsty. Officer Tomander asked if the dogs were mine, told me I should be at home, then told me he was going to shoot the dogs, said nothing about trying to capture. I screamed, "No, you aren't because I'm here as a rescue." He jumped into his police car where he had two other officers whom sped behind him each in one lane of the three lane freeway & Heyburn Officer Ririe Tomander immediately parked & pulled out his AR-15 from less than 10 feet away leaving the weimaraner dead after running in circles suffering & screaming in pain then shot the Great Pyranese in the right hip leaving him alive, but unable to stand. These officers all had less lethal options on their belts including this POS. He was out of control & has a God complex & killing these animals with an AR-15 was the plan from the beginning.”
Chief Bertalotto said the investigation and the understanding of the facts and circumstances may change as additional evidence is collected.
A petition has been created demanding that the officers who shot and killed the dogs are fired and prosecuted.
Those innocent dogs were probably homeless as a result of being abandoned, and through no fault of their own, they died a slow, painful, and cruel death!
Just think how frightened those poor souls must have been.
Information about the dogs, such as age, name, and gender, is not yet known so I took the liberty of naming them Dew and Petal for the tribute image. Should their given names be made public, I will rectify them accordingly.
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