Gabe Edwards resigned from his position on October 11, a day after a Board of Aldermen meeting where officials and residents discussed the complaint.
Johnna Smith wrote in a Facebook post, “This is a bite my mother got from a dog that lives next door to us. We reported it and Gabe (chief of police in Hallsville) took care of it following the ordinances, meaning my neighbor was forced to quarantine her dog for 10 days for check for rabies. My neighbor lied to city council in Hallsville and not only got the chief of police fired, but also is getting her dog back after 2 day quarantine.”
“So basically, all was in favor of this woman who’s dog bit my mother-in-law and nothing was granted – nothing was done justice-wise for my mother,” Smith said.
The situation started when Edwards responded to the dog bite complaint, notifying the dog owner, Margaret Brookshire, of the city’s animal ordinance.
According to Hallsville Ordinance 205.200 Impounding of Dogs Biting or Attacking Persons, “Any dog or other animal which bites, injures or attacks any person shall be immediately taken up and impounded by the Animal Control Officer, in the City Pound, or with a veterinarian of the owner's choice, for a period of ten (10) days”.
However, Edwards said Hallsville does not have an Animal Control department, leaving that responsibility to the police. He also said the city does not have an animal shelter.
“We are not animal control officers so we go to the 'or' part of the ordinance to take the animal to a vet.”
Brookshire said at the meeting that “she is paying the veterinarian $268.00 for the 10-day quarantine. She wanted to know if the ordinance is correct and if it is then why isn’t she paying $3.00 a day to the City Pound instead of $268.00 to a veterinarian.”
According to the ordinance, if the owner takes the the dog to the vet, he or she has to pay out of their own pocket. But in this case, the city ended up paying Brookshire’s vet bill.
Hallsville Mayor Mickey Nichols said the city’s attorney recommended the city pay Brookshire’s bill.
“Our city attorney said that this situation was not handled right either and he figured we shouldn’t burden her with the unneeded debt.”
Shortly after the Hallsville Board of Aldermen meeting, officials had a closed meeting where, according to the minutes, they “made a motion to offer Chief Gabe Edwards the option of resigning his position as Chief of Police for the City of Hallsville or be terminated.”
It was an unanimous decision in favor of the motion.
KOMU 8 asked Mayor Nichols if the city asked Gabe Edwards to resign.
“All I’m going to say on the chief is, he gave us his resignation,” Nichols said.
After reading the minutes to Nichols and asking him again if the city asked Edwards to resign he said, “I’m not going to comment on that.”
Ashleigh Smith said she's upset Edwards has to leave and that Brookshire faces no consequences.
"We are kind of angry that this whole situation has brought out the reason for him leaving his job," Smith said. "That bothers us, but our main concern is the fact that this woman did not have to comply with the law that the city basically told her that it’s okay if you come up here crying to us that we’re just going to give in to what you want instead of what the laws are written."
Smith said her sister, Johnna and her toddler daughter are in the process of finding a new home because they feel it is unsafe to have young children near the dog.
KOMU 8 contacted Margaret Brookshire, the owner of the dog, for more comments. She said she did not want to comment on the story.
FULL FACEBOOK POST:
My sister in law lives a couple doors down from this lady with my 8 year old niece. They have to walk by this dog every single day to get to their vehicle as there is no other way to go. They are now moving just to get away from this dog.
My mother in law was walking by to get to my sister in laws apartment so she could let her dog out to go potty and this big dog started barking and snarling at my mother in law and she held her hands up like in a ok I am back up kinda way and the dog bit her. Then the owner came running down bribing my mother in law saying is there anything she could do to make up for it and then turned around and accused my mother in law of "challenging" her dog.
My mother in law is in her 60's and does very well with animals. She would never challenge a dog like that. Everyone is scared of that dog. My daughter is usually with her when she goes to check on the dog if she stays with her during the day and if Everleigh was with her, My daughter could have gotten severely hurt.
This is absolutely crap that simple words of this lady got the chief of police fired. My mom was absolutely right when she made the comment that it's amazing what the words of people can do, even if it's a lie and ruin people's lives. Now this lady has had to do nothing and her mean dog is still going to be possibly hurting or biting others. This is total crap.
The city Council even had a meeting where she went in an pulled a pity party, and even got the CITY to pay for her vet bills! The LAW states that if a dog bites, it needs to be quarantined for TEN days.
This incident happened on October 4th, in which officers spoke with her and told her this, and on October 8th, the police had to be dispatched back out because she DID NOT COMPLY WITH WHAT OFFICERS TOLD HER. Then, by Monday the 10th, her dog finally went to the vet but was back home two days later.
(KOMU - Oct 13, 2016)
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