And that might be the only
disciplinary action Officer David Kelley faces after he gunned down Arfee, a
2-year-old pup, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Author: Shane Dixon Kavanaugh
An Idaho cop who gunned down an
adorable dog, claiming he was a vicious pit bull, still has his badge and a
weapon but is earning a little less cash on the beat each week.
Coeur d’Alene Police Officer
David Kelley had his hourly pay slashed by $3.15 to $31.02 on Oct. 1, nearly
three months after the veteran cop shot and killed Arfee, a 2-year-old black
Lab, while investigating a suspicious vehicle.
The seemingly senseless slaying
received national attention and prompted protests and two official reviews of
the incident—each finding that Kelley violated his department’s deadly force
policies. But as calls for Kelley’s resignation intensified over the summer,
the department remained silent on what disciplinary action, if any, the officer
would face. “The dog was aggressively
barking and growling and its mouth was within inches of my face,” Officer David
Kelley recalled before shooting Arfee, a 2-year-old black Lab, in the chest. “I
had the split second thought that this dog is going to bite me."
The 10 percent pay cut appears
to be the full extent of Kelley’s punishment and was revealed only after the
Coeur d’Alene Press, the area’s daily newspaper, filed a freedom of information
request. When the paper asked Coeur d’Alene Police Chief Lee White about the
wage reduction, the top cop was characteristically dismissive.
“Are you still beating that
dead horse?” White told the Press, before saying he was prohibited from
discussing employee discipline.
The incident happened on July
9, when the officer and his partner had walked up to a van belonging to Arfee’s
owner after a caller reported a suspicious vehicle in the area. Kelley
approached the van, which matched the caller’s description, with his gun drawn.
Inside was the dog, which at the sight of the officer tried to stick his head
out a cracked window.
“The dog was aggressively
barking and growling, and its mouth was within inches of my face,” Kelley
recalled in a police report. “I had the split second thought that this dog is
going to bite me.”
Spooked, Kelley fired a single
shot into the poor pup’s chest. Mortally wounded, Arfee scampered to the back
of the van and died. Unable to locate Arfee’s owner, Craig Jones, the officers
then removed the dog’s body from the vehicle.
Jones would later return from a
having coffee to find his window shot out, a note on his windshield and a bunch
of blood in his van. But there was no Arfee, who was mistakenly identified as a
pit bull by authorities in the following weeks. “It crushes me know the way he
died,” Jones later told KXLY. “It’s a savage thing.”
As outrage grew and more than
2,000 people joined a Facebook group called Justice for Arfee to demand
accountability for the incident, White remained conciliatory.
“This event has shaken
confidence in our police department,” he said in September. “But the
relationship between our community and our department will ultimately be
strengthened as a direct result of how we respond to the situation.”
That’s yet to happen.
On Tuesday, attorneys for Jones
filed a $350,000 lawsuit against the city of Coeur d’Alene.
