Thursday, January 13, 2000 8:15 PM

Pit bull considered 'deadly weapon'
by Jim Porter

Pit bulls enjoy, or suffer, a reputation as aggressive-clamp-down-and-never-let-go dogs.

I knew one pit bull that was as sweet as pie, but pit bulls can be menacing. Here's a case where a pit bull was used by its owner in a threatening manner against would-be arresting officers. The dog's owner, Octavio Henderson, was charged with "exhibiting a deadly weapon, to wit, a pit bull, with the intent to resist arrest."

Can a pit bull be a deadly weapon?

Violent family

Suffice it to say that the Henderson family was not the Cleaver family (and I don't mean Eldridge) or even the Brady Bunch or the Nelsons (Ozzie and Harriet.) (I figure you might know at least one of those goody two-shoe families, and if you are my age, you will know them all.)

Terry Henderson, Octavio's brother, called 911 from the house he was living in with Octavio and their mother, Margaret Long. He claimed that his mother (mean Margaret) was threatening to shoot him with a gun. Margaret then grabbed the phone and told the dispatcher (on tape she wasn't the brightest bulb) she was going to blow Terry's head off. Officers responded.

As officers arrived, they noticed the sign on the front door, "Don't Worry About the Dog, Beware of Owner." As the first officer arrived and began escorting mother Margaret out the door for a conversation, nine family members began wrestling with the officer and pulling Margaret back into the house. Several family members threatened to "kick the officer's ass" and someone said "shoot that mother something or other." (This is a family newspaper.)

Octavio grabbed one of his pit bulls and got him all fired up and shoved him right in front of the officer's face as it was snapping and growling. He threatened to release the dog on the officer. The officer sprayed the dog with pepper spray. The second arriving officer's canine partner, Jet, apparently got so excited by all of the yelling and pulling that he bit the first officer.

The officers finally got mad mother Margaret into the patrol car and went back to arrest Octavio for threatening to shoot the officers and release the excited pit bull. The officers went around to the side yard and Octavio grabbed a different pit bull, shook it up (like a Dr. Pepper) and pointed at the two officers threatening to let it go.

One of the officers sprayed the dog with the real thing - pepper spray - and it ran off while another dog, a black lab, sprinted out the front door toward one of the officers and Jet. Within seconds, the deputy fired his gun at the lab and hit it twice. It limped away. When the officers went in the house yet another pit bull and the injured lab came after the officer who sprayed them both with pepper spray. Octavio later claimed he was trying to hold the dogs back and protect the officers.

Pit Bulls/Trial

At the criminal trial,an expert testified that the biting power of a German Shepherd is 900 to 1200 lbs. per square inch, a Rottweiler is 1700 to 1800 lbs. per square inch, and the pit bull has the most powerful bite at 2400 to 2500 lbs. per square inch. It takes four lbs. of pressure per inch to break a human's finger.

Pit bulls have a locking mechanism in their jaw, the expert testified: "Once they grab hold, they normally won't let go, but will instead keep biting and shaking."

The Happy Family

Sweet mother Margaret testified she did not have a gun, and admitted to telling the dispatcher she had a gun to get officers to the house faster. As Margaret was cross-examined, she essentially admitted to lying throughout her initial testimony. She added she was "50-some years old. I try to tell the truth as much as I can." Apparently not that often.

Deadly Weapon

The court recounted deadly weapon law. For example, a screw driver can be a deadly weapon, as such ordinary instrumentalities as razors, pocket knives, hat pins, canes, hammers and hatchets also can be. "A deadly weapon is any object, instrument, or weapon, which is used in such a manner as to be capable of producing death or great bodily injury."

Conclusion

The court ruled that it had "no trouble" concluding that the pit bulls exhibited by Octavio, while not inherently deadly weapons, were deadly weapons on this particular occasion - agitated by Octavio. He now resides in prison.

Jim Porter is an attorney with Porter Simon, with offices in Truckee and Reno.

 

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