Police are still investigating an Aug. 1 incident in which a 71-year-old Ocean View man was killed by four dogs on the Outrigger Drive roadway.
“We are doing some follow-ups,” Capt. Akira Edmoundson of the West Hawaii Criminal Investigation Division told the Tribune-Herald.
Edmoundson said once that occurs, police will wrap up their portion of the investigation into the death of Bob Northrop and route the case to prosecutors for possible further action.
Police are investigating Northrop’s death as a negligent failure to control a dangerous dog case. According to police, the owners have surrendered all four dogs alleged to have taken part in the attack, plus a litter of 10 puppies, to county Animal Control agents.
The dogs’ owners haven’t been arrested or booked on suspicion of the charges — which could be as serious as a Class B felony with a potential 10-year prison term.
Northrop’s daughter, Shannon Matson, said she and her sister, Anna Schamber, weren’t told the identify of the dogs’ owners or whether or not there are any plans to charge them.
Matson said the family is “doing as well as can be expected, under the circumstances.”
“It still feels unreal, honestly,” Matson said.
Matson said her father, a retiree who had recently taken a job as a school bus driver, was walking to a friend’s home when the attack occurred.
“He was trying to get a ride. None of his vehicles were working at the time,” she said. “We have his phone, and we were able to see his last text-message conversation. He was informing a friend who wasn’t answering their phone that he was on his way to a mutual friend’s house to, hopefully, get a hold of somebody and get a ride to (Kailua-Kona).
“There is a bus driver shortage, and he had come out of retirement to work as a bus driver because he knew the need was great, and to pay some bills, of course. And he had some paperwork he needed to take care of for that job and was trying to secure some transport to town when he was attacked.”
Northrop, a divorced man, had lived alone since a girlfriend died of cancer in 2020, Matson said.
According to Matson, her dad was an animal lover who fed a couple of stray cats and had recently taken in a puppy.
“We adopted him and got him fixed via Hui Pono Holoholona” and the Good Karma Spay-Neuter Clinic, Matson said.
“He’s a very rambunctious puppy and he’s trying to integrate into our household,” she said. “He’s a big, goofy animal, but he’s always going to remind me of my dad, so we’re definitely not planning on adopting him out. We want to keep him.”
A celebration of life for Northrop who was a carpenter and glazier who had retired as a county inspector, is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, at St. Jude’s Episcopal Church in Ocean View.
“My dad was definitely a character,” Matson said. “We’ve had so many people reach out to us after his passing and tell us so many funny stories. Even people who barely knew him. It’s a small town out in Ocean View, so people who worked in the stores out there told us he would come in and start making them laugh.
“He was outspoken, and my ability to stand up when something is wrong, that came directly from my father.”
Northrop is the second victim of a severe dog mauling this year.
Amber Clausen, a 32-year-old Ainaloa woman, was seriously injured in an attack May 27 at her residence, allegedly by a dog belonging to neighbors.
The neighbors, Frederick and Kazzy Kassebeer, have pleaded not guilty to a Class C felony charge of negligent failure to control a dangerous dog.
Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz authored the section of Hawaii County Code under which the Kassebeers are being prosecuted and police are using in their investigation into Northrop’s death.
The impetus for Kierkiewicz’s legislation came in August 2021, when an 85-year-old constituent of Kierkiewicz, Delores Oskins, was attacked by dogs in Hawaiian Paradise Park. She died 24 days later on Sept. 5, 2021.
Kirkiewicz said earlier this month she is “horrified” that police have twice had to use the dangerous dog law this year because of dog attacks, and indicated more might need to be done.
“We’re looking at the bill,” she said after Northrop’s death. “Unfortunately, we’ve had to use it. But what more can we do to incentivize folks to make sure their dogs are secure? We have to look at that.”
Matson, an aide to Councilwoman Jenn Kagiwada of Hilo, said she’s been informed of less-severe dog attacks that have occurred since her father’s fatal mauling.
“As animal lovers and as me as somebody who doesn’t believe in the prison-industrial complex and doesn’t want to see people go to jail for a very long time for crimes that may have been an accident — we understand that,” Matson said. “But we really want to see enforcement of the current laws. And we really want to see accountability.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
