Charges dropped against woman arrested for making faces at police dog

[buttmunch]

CHELSEA, Vt. (AP) - A prosecutor has dropped charges against a woman who was arrested for staring at and making faces at a police dog.
"Prosecuting a woman for `staring' at a police dog is absurd," said her lawyer. "People are allowed to make faces at police dogs and officers to express their disapproval. It's constitutional expression," said public defender Kelly Green, who represented Jayna Hutchinson.

Hutchinson, 33, of Lebanon, N.H., was charged with cruelty to a police animal and resisting arrest after a July 31 incident in West Fairlee in which police were called to a market to investigate a report of a brawl. They were approached by Hutchinson, who told one officer she had been assaulted the day before by one of the men involved.

She asked Vermont State Police Sgt. Todd Protzman to take her statement but he refused, telling her she smelled like alcohol and was drunk but that he would take her statement at another time.

After a heated exchange, she approached Protzman's cruiser, where his dog Max was waiting, putting her face within inches of the window and "staring at him in a taunting/harassing manner," Protzman wrote in an affidavit.

"While the defendant taunted my canine, Max was focused on the defendant and the perceived threat she presented to him," the affidavit said. "He was no longer focused on me and the other officers at the scene."

Officers arrested Hutchinson, adding the resisting arrest charge because she pulled her arms and upper body away during the arrest. She registered 0.21 percent blood-alcohol content on a breath test, more than twice the legal limit for drivers in Vermont.

On Tuesday, two days before Hutchinson was to go to trial, Orange County State's Attorney Will Porter decided to drop the charges, after viewing a videotape of the incident over the weekend.

"I think it was going to be difficult to prove her conduct changed the dog's behavior," Porter said. "Most of the time (in harassment cases) people would come tell the court what it felt like. Dogs can't do that."

Without the cruelty charge, jurors would be unlikely to convict her on the resisting arrest, Porter said.

Woman Arrested for Making Faces at Dog

Methinks mr. policeman needs to get some psychiatric help pronto.

[Sweetie]

This is the best story I have read in awhile. That is so funny.
Thanks for the laugh, Butt.

[Beeyotch]

HAHAHA, a drunkass woman staring down a poor K-9 dog to taunt it! I woulda laughed my ass off if I'd been there to see it.

[greysfang]

What a waste of taxpayer money. If he was so concerned about the dog's feelings, he should have let the dog out to handle his business himself.

[buttmunch]

How much you want to bet that dog gets psychiatric help before the copper.

[shedevilang]

bwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa omg poor dog lmaooooooooo ok thanks i needed a good laugh

[cynic]

...maybe she wasn't really making a face.....maybe she's just ugly.....

I wonder how many cats that cop has put in jail for "teasing/taunting and distracting" his dog?

[pacific breeze]

The woman sounds like a creep to me -- she started the trouble and now she's crying foul play. I can see how deliberately distracting a police dog from its duties could be considered destructive, but I doubt the dog is traumatized.

[kingcap72]

Something like this could only happen in Mayberry USA where the cops have nothing else better to do with their time.

[shedevilang]

Originally Posted by cynic

...maybe she wasn't really making a face.....maybe she's just ugly.....

I wonder how many cats that cop has put in jail for "teasing/taunting and distracting" his dog?

[Sweetie]

All I can think of is Half Baked and Butterstuff, Butternuts.....BUTTERCUP!

[cynic]

Originally Posted by shedevilang

I truly begin to believe that I am somehow related to you and Mel.....now I won't be able to sleep from the night sweats and terror that that thought causes.....

[KrisNine]

He should have just put the window down....problem solved.

[shedevilang]

Originally Posted by cynic

I truly begin to believe that I am somehow related to you and Mel.....now I won't be able to sleep from the night sweats and terror that that thought causes.....

cynic are you our long lost brother/uncle/nephew/grandpa

[cynic]

Yah, but what if she had rabies?.....