Dog attack victim wants action

By JOHN BURNETT

Tribune-Herald staff writer

A Leilani Estates man alleges police didn’t do enough to help him after an attack by a neighbor’s dogs last year.

Joel Foster, a self-employed maintenance man, said that while walking his dog on Aug. 31, four dogs from a house on Ka’upili Street attacked and injured him and his dog, a 2-year-old female black mouth cur named Luna. Foster said he followed his normal route and the dogs had always been fenced in prior to the incident.

“I was bitten up pretty badly. I just finished up physical therapy on my hands. I have scars on my legs from puncture wounds from bites,” he said Friday. “My dog was bitten through the shoulder. The leader of the pack, the pit bull, tried to get her through the neck, but thank God, he only got her shoulder (and) tore her up.”

Foster said a woman nearby called 911 and he finally managed to restrain the pit bull by twisting its collar. Police responded and Foster was taken to the emergency room for his injuries. The Hawaii Island Humane Society came and picked up the pit bull, but didn’t keep it for long.

“The pit bull, the one that I was able to restrain and that animal control took away, was released back into the custody to these people, which should have never happened, according to the animal control ordinances,” he said. “That dog attacked somebody. It should have been quarantined; it should have never been released.”

Richard Willing, captain of the Puna subdivision’s neighborhood watch, said his wife was chased by the same dogs shortly afterward.

“The dogs were back,” he said. “They chased my wife and they had to call the police. She was walking our dog and let go of our dog and went running down the road, screaming.” Willing’s wife wasn’t injured, but he thought it “weird” that the pit bull was returned to the owner.

“I just assumed they had put it down,” he said. “Apparently, that’s not what happened here.”

The dogs’ owner, Emelia Green, was cited by police, but not until after a letter from Foster was published in Big Island Weekly on Feb. 8. She’s scheduled to appear in Hilo District Court on March 22 at 1:30 p.m. on a charge of dog biting a human, a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine. She didn’t return a phone call seeking comment on Friday.

“I’ve been trying for six months to get somebody to do something about this, and this is not a case of vindictiveness,” Foster said. “This is a case of public safety. … My biggest concern is that there is going to be a child walking down the street, any street, anywhere, or a lady pushing her carriage and there’s going to be a repeat of this incident.”

Foster called the police response “pathetic,” especially after he was told by the investigating officer that the case was suspended when police were unable to contact Green within 90 days of the attack.

Capt. Samuel Jelsma, the commander of Puna patrol said numerous attempts were made to contact Green, both in person and by telephone.

“The residence is fenced with a locked gate,” he said. “But there are documented efforts to contact that party prior to the suspension of that case.” Jelsma added that a suspended case is not the same as a closed case; it just means the investigation has “come to a dead end.”

Asked about the effect of Foster’s letter, Jelsma replied: “The issue was brought to my attention and we did make a continued effort to locate that party.”

Foster’s case also came to the attention to Deputy Prosecutor Mitch Roth, who is running for prosecutor in the upcoming election.

“There was something written in one of the blogs that the police weren’t doing anything, and so I went to find out how correct that was,” he said. “And actually, what I found was that the police have done a full investigation, quite lengthy.”

Foster also alleged that by returning the pit bull to Green, authorities didn’t “follow protocol” under the regulation of dangerous dogs section of the county code.

“First off, they have to determine whether or not it’s a danger,” he said. “If it’s a dangerous animal, then there’s all kinds of kenneling requirements, signs that have to be posted, a $50,000 bond has to be issued. And also, the owner and the pet have to go to training classes and there’s to be a court appearance. And none of this stuff happened.”

According to Roth, those are penalties to be applied after conviction of the dog owner, not before.

“That’s a sentencing decision; it’s not something that happens right from the get-go,” he said. “That’s what sentencing options the judge has.”

Roth noted that Green is charged under a state law, not the county ordinance, which only provides for a possible 30-day jail term. He said that could change before the case proceeds in court.

“The jail time is less but there are more things that could happen,” he said.

Foster said he now drives daily to Liliuokalani Gardens in Hilo to walk Luna and that the affair has injured him “physically and also psychologically and emotionally.”

“I’m pretty sure there’s some post-traumatic stress disorder there because I keep reliving it just about every day,” he said.

Jelsma said he understands Foster’s “frustration with the length of time it took for us to get a resolution on that issue and get the case to the prosecutors.”

“He’s entitled to his own opinion, but the officer did (conduct) his own investigation,” he said. “There was an effort to wrap that thing up. … If he’s unsatisfied with the police handling of the case, he can go to the proper complaint process also.”

Green’s case will be discussed at a meeting Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Leilani Estates Community Association.

Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.