Montpelier
In a two-page report issued on Wednesday, the Attorney General’s Office found Logan Scelza acted reasonably and within the bounds of the law when he shot a pit bull multiple times after a fight broke out between that dog — Diesel — and Scelza’s husky Kato.
“The Attorney General’s Office has concluded that Scelza was reasonable in his belief that killing (the pit bull) was reasonably necessary to prevent injury to his dog,” the report says.
The report cited a Vermont law that allows a person to “kill a domestic pet such as a dog that is attacking another animal” as long as it’s “reasonably necessary to prevent injury to the animal being attacked.”
Factoring into the decision not to charge Scelza was the finding that he initially tried to break up the dog fight with non-lethal measures — first attempting to pull the dogs apart and then firing warning shots near the dogs in an attempt to “startle them.”
The report also noted that Scelza “did not place any other person in actual danger of death or serious bodily injury” in any of the shots he fired.
Hartford Police Chief Phil Kasten said Scelza, who has been working in an administrative role while the incident was under review, will return to his patrol officer position later this week.
“We are very grateful for the detailed work of the Vermont State Police and the Attorney General’s Office, and are thankful for the patience of the public,” Kasten said in an interview on Wednesday. “We are grateful to be moving forward at this point.”
Asked whether he felt his officer behaved appropriately, Kasten said the investigation appears to show that Scelza gave “every consideration to the preservation of life” and that those “good judgment” decisions are what “we expect from police officers in these kinds of circumstances.”
“I look forward to officer Scelza rejoining patrol,” Kasten said.
Scelza is a four-year member of the department.
Kasten said he will conduct an administrative review of the incident and, among other things, will look to see if Scelza committed any “administrative violations.”
Diesel, a 2-year-old pit bull, was at the dog park off Route 14 on June 25 with Cheryl Gray, whose boyfriend at the time was roommates with the dog’s owner, John Justin Demers.
A shaken Gray told the Valley News on Wednesday she was shocked to hear the Attorney General’s Office wasn’t going to charge Scelza.
“I just can’t believe it,” a weeping Gray said. “I can’t believe it.”
“What kind of an example does this send out …” she said before trailing off. “Unbelievable.”
Demers couldn’t be reached for comment; he is being held at the Grafton County House of Corrections on $25,000 cash bail. Lebanon police pulled him over earlier this week and allege that he possessed heroin, marijuana and Suboxone.
“On behalf of all of us, we are just shocked and can’t believe that nothing was done,” Gray said.
Messages left for Scelza on Wednesday weren’t returned.
The Attorney General’s Office in late August received a Vermont State Police investigation report detailing what transpired at the dog park that day.
According to Wednesday’s two-page report issued by the Attorney General’s Office, the investigation found Diesel and Scelza’s two huskies Kato and Echo all were off leash that afternoon in the large-dog section of the dog park, which is owned by the town of Hartford.
“At some point, Kato and Echo approached a picnic table near Diesel,” the report says. “Kato growled at Diesel and the dogs began fighting.”
The investigation concluded that Diesel bit and latched onto Kato’s neck, prompting Scelza to intervene and attempt to break up the fight. After failing to do so, Scelza fired his duty weapon near the dogs, according to the report.
When the dog fight continued, Scelza physically hit Diesel, but Diesel wouldn’t let go of Kato’s neck, the report says. Scelza then shot Diesel, ultimately firing his weapon a total of seven times.
Immediately after, Scelza left the dog park and brought Kato to a veterinarian to be treated for injuries to the throat, including a laceration and two perforations.
In a telephone interview on Wednesday, John Treadwell, criminal division chief at the Attorney General’s Office, said he couldn’t definitively say whether any person in Vermont who shot a domestic pet that was fighting with his or her own pet would be cleared of criminal charges.
“Each case is very specific,” he said. “It would depend on the circumstances; it would certainly be subject to an investigation.”
The same standards that applied in this case would be applied in all cases, he said. More specifically, he said, his office would break down whether the killing was “reasonably necessary to prevent injury to the animal being attacked.”
“Under the facts presented here, (Scelza) took a variety of steps to try and prevent further injury to his dog before resorting to deadly force,” Treadwell said. “That was factored in … everything he did to try and dislodge Diesel.”
Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.
Correction
John Justin Demers is the owner of Diesel, the dog who was shot to death. An earlier version of this story omitted his first name.