Posted on 02/14/2011 5:44:51 PM PST by Immerito
A Toronto man says he’s having a dog of a time trying to figure out why police charged him in an alleged canine theft case in the city’s east end.
Sean Dunkley showed up at the Sun newsroom Monday to tell his side of the story after the dogknapping case he’s charged in connection with was featured on the front page of Monday’s Toronto Sun.
“Do you think this is a joke — some kind of sick joke this guy is playing on me?” Dunkley asked. “Now I’ve got (the story) on the front page of the Sun and people think I’m a dogknapper.”
The incident centres around the weekend disappearance and subsequent return of a Toronto senior’s dog.
John Hildon, 84, said he was taking Goldie, his eight-year old Bichon Frise, for a walk at around 8:15 p.m. Friday.
Hildon said he let go of Goldie’s leash when they approached the intersection of Victoria Park Ave. and Ellesmere Rd. as there was a large crowd of people waiting to board a bus.
“This guy...looked down (at the dog) and said, ‘Who’s dog is this?’ and I said, ‘I don’t know,’ jokingly. So, this guy grabs the dog,” Hildon said Sunday.
Dunkley admitted to being the guy who grabbed the dog and corroborated Hildon’s story about asking who Goldie belonged to.
“I see a dog walking down the street; its got a long blue leash and there’s an old man behind the dog,” Dunkley said. “I go, ‘Is this your dog?’ and he goes, ‘No,’ and then he just walks off and leaves me with the dog.”
Dunkley said the man continued to walk and left Goldie with Dunkley, so he boarded his bus home with the dog in tow.
(Excerpt) Read more at torontosun.com ...
One day I was walking my first dalmatian ( i am on my third) called “Dasher” in NYC and a real screwball with a couple of friends stopped me and demanded I hand over the dog to him. He said the dog was stolen from him and he wanted it back.
There was no way I was handing my dog to these guys and to make a long story short I had to actually show the police the ownership papers.
Doggie Ping
Fortunately you were able to prove ownership! Too bad that they tried to steal your dog from you.
I’m surprised the officer didn’t ask the guy who approached you to call “his dog”. Since the odds are against him naming your dog by his actual name, it would be unlikely that your dog would leave your side to approach a stranger—especially a stranger whom he would perceived irritated/angered you by his demands.
In an interview Sunday, Hildon told the Sun the person who took Goldie was a white male. Dunkley is black.
The cops were running all over the condo property, two of them interrogating Mr. Dunkley in front of his young daughter, withOUT a warrant.
And the cops wonder why they are losing respect from the public.
These Canuck Cops haven’t started shooting the dogs yet, like here in the USA.
“Hildon said he let go of Goldie’s leash when they approached the intersection of Victoria Park Ave. and Ellesmere Rd. as there was a large crowd of people waiting to board a bus.”
No one in their right mind would let go of the leash at a traffic intersection crowded with people. Throwing the dog into traffic would make as much sense. Hildon may have had a momentary loss of judgment.
That wouldn’t be surprising, considering his age (84). That lapse of judgment could also explain Mr. Dunkley’s claims that Hildon left the scene without the dog-—when he realized what he’d done, and realized the dog had been removed from the scene, he reported the dog as stolen.
You are taking phraseology too seriously. “Let go” could be technically correct, but not in the sense of the many simply dropping the lead for no reason. It could as well mean the dog yanked and the man lost it.
Reflexive grammar-police here.
“dogknapper”
Huh? I’m a dog-k-napper. Never heard of a kidknapper. Or is this just those crazy Canadians?
‘Who’s dog is this?’
Who is dog is this?
Come on, “brilliant” journalists. Who taught you English? They should be fired, not to mention the “editor”. “Who’s” is a contraction; the spelling you want is possessive and is “whose”.
Yes, a dropped leash is also possible, but if he dropped the leash accidentally, he probably would have been apologetic, saying something like: “Oh, thank you for catching my dog.”
Remember, Dunkley asserts that the dog’s owner left the scene without the dog. Perhaps he’s telling the truth, perhaps not; without witness testimony, we can’t say either way.
Perhaps a a dog-knapper is similar to a kanigget?
< / End Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference>
Dunkley may have stolen the dog but this article makes that seem unlikely.
Though I am inclined to believe Dunkley’s story, based purely on this article, the above makes no sense.
Dunkley did not know the dog owner, so how could he know if the dog owner left the area? Dunkley says he asked an old man walking by if it was his dog, but that old man was not necessarily Hildon. It could have been any old man.
I do know this. If this had been me & my dog, there would have been no doubt who the dog belonged to: the guy frantically calling & chasing the dog. Hildon apparently was not doing that.
Based solely on this article, I will stick with my original contention that Hildon had a momentary loss of judgment & his dog was gone before he realized it. That is not a reason to charge Dunkley with theft. As a juror & w/o further damning evidence, I would vote to acquit based on reasonable doubt.
If it is true that Hildon momentarily "clocked out", he may deny it in an attempt to hide his failing ability to function safely in public. That would be truly sad.
I should have written, “Dunkley asserts that Hildon left the scene.”
It sounds like Hildon checked out for a few minutes and is embarrassed that he lost his dog. Hopefully he has family nearby that can take care of him.
“Hildon said he let go of Goldie’s leash when they approached........a large crowd of people waiting to board a bus.”
Isn’t that the time to hold tightly to the leash?
“It could as well mean the dog yanked and the man lost it.”
Haha, good one. I love FR humor! Like a Bichon could yank anything....
;-)
It’s no joke. Plenty people lose small dogs who are out of control and don’t have a serious hold on a tiny thin lead, caught unawares.
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