Posted on 04/25/2014 4:04:11 PM PDT by BenLurkin
REDLANDS (CBSLA.com) — Animal cruelty investigators were looking into allegations Friday that a Southern California Gas Co. employee fatally struck a Yorkshire terrier while on the job, according to reports.
The incident allegedly occurred Thursday around 1:50 p.m. when a SoCal Gas meter reader came to the 1400 block of Washington Street in Redlands, KCAL 9′s Tom Wait reported.
Resident Cathy Rodriguez told Wait her three Yorkies, including 5-year-old Bean Bean, barked and approached the employee when the meter reader walked onto her property.
That’s when Rodriguez claims the employee swung at Bean Bean with a baton-like instrument – a rubber stick designed to shoo away pesky pets – and hit the diminutive 5-pound dog.
Bean Bean died at a local animal hospital a short time later from “blunt force trauma to the side of the head,” Humane Society of San Bernardino Officer Frank Padilla told The Press-Enterprise.
KNX 1070′s Jan Stevens reports SoCal Gas spokeswoman Anne Silva says the company takes the allegations “very seriously.”
We don’t want employees, customers, or pets to get hurt in any way,” said Silva. “We train our employees to treat pet encounters with care and caution…we know that pets are part of the family.”
Members of the Humane Society of San Bernardino were expected to meet with the unidentified meter reader and a supervisor later Thursday.
Upon receiving the results of that meeting, a city prosecutor will determine whether to file charges.
Feared for his life. End of story. He’s lucky to go home alive.
wannabe cop?
Yes, those 5lb dogs sure can put the fear into someone.
If he was a cop, no problem. Anyone else, well too bad.
I’ve read that umbrellas are effective in repelling dogs.
Hate animal abuse, but ankle biters are the worst. If one started gnawing on my ankle I would probably kick it. I do t know both sides of this but I might use something to persuade a dog to bark up another tree.
A neighbor use to let his big Shepard unleashed out in front of his house. This was in the 70s. I rode a motorcycle home, usually around 3 in the AM and that shep would rush me and bark growl etc while I tried to get down the block. One day the shep came straight at me and did not pull away as I passed. I locked my engineer booted leg straight out and knocked it for a loop at around 25mph. The dog ran away and never went after me again. Just had to get his attention.
Love it.
you just can’t let your pets be around other people “doing their jobs”. not if you want them alive. it’s bad enough cops can be chasing a suspect and they come into YOUR yard and YOUR DOG is contained back there and they shoot the dog. it’s happened and worse has happened. and dead people can’t contest “officer safety” bs excuses.
until cops are personally liable and can lose pensions in judgment cases and go to jail, it’s only going to get worse.
Some one has to say it..............At least the meter reader went home safe and sound.
...especially when they put the love lock on your leg and start humping.
“Feared for his life. End of story. He’s lucky to go home alive.”
If it were my Yorkie (I have had several) and I saw him do that, he would not leave my property under his own power. Especially if he decided to swing his ‘club’ on me. Castle Doctrine, you know...and btw, a 12 ga slug could disable his vehicle...and if it were my Yorkie, it would require about a 100K settlement from the gas company...plus free gas for as long as I lived there...and if the meter reader lived, about 20 years in the slammer.
Just call me ‘hard nose’...
Since they constantly left the gate open before, utility people no longer allowed on my property without my permission. My utility meters are now behind a 5’5” locked gate.
If they try to climb over the fence they become potential intruders. Of course no meter reader will take the time to do that.
We had an 80 pound Red Coon Hound in the '60s. He taught the meter reader to let us know he needed to read the meter instead of just opening the back door and stepping into the laundry room to get access to the meter...
Used to house paint for a friend who was a contractor. Side job a couple days a week. One house with some real snooty buttwads , where you couldn’t even get a glass of water and was treated like a servant had a little $h!t dog that would bark insessantly and would nip at my heels. Tried to get the snoots to put their dog away but they insisted that the dog was harmless. Then the thing got a hold of my ankle good and immediately found itself airborne across the room from the same foot. From then on it kept barking... But from far across the room.
I currently own 2 Brittanies and have owned all manner of dogs. Love em. But none will bite unless seriously provoced and/or I tell em.
People need to know how to control their animals.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.