Category: the Rant Board
A seeing-eye dog had bleach squirted in its eyes at a Publix grocery store when a 67-year-old woman intentionally sprayed the animal in an unprovoked attack, a police report says.
The 5-year-old yellow Labrador retriever appeared uninjured, the report said, but Patricia Lawler, of Sunrise, FL was cited for animal cruelty and given a notice to appear after the 4:15 p.m. Saturday incident at the store at 10155 W. Oakland Park Blvd.
Lawler told police she "thought it was a vicious animal" and feared it would be a danger to other customers, so she grabbed a spray bottle of Clorox cleaner off a shelf and sprayed the animal in the eyes and back.
"I realize now it was a mistake," Lawler said when reached by telephone Monday. "I have a fear of dogs. It was just a big dog with a big head. I was just afraid."
Lawler said she takes medication for schizoaffective disorder, and paranoia is one the symptoms associated with her mental illness.
The dog's owner, Ronda Carin Shore, 45, also of Sunrise, told police she is blind and keeps the canine with her at all times. It was wearing a service-dog vest, an assist handle and a placard, the report said.
Shore declined to comment Monday.
Although the dog wasn't exhibiting aggressive behavior, Lawler said she got scared when she saw it and asked Shore to leave the store with the dog. When that didn't produce results, she said she resorted to the spray bleach to get rid of the animal.
"I was afraid the dog would go wild, or some small child would get bitten, or somebody would get hurt," Lawler said. "I guess I overreacted. But I still feel like a dog doesn't belong in a place like a grocery store."
If convicted of the first-degree misdemeanor, Lawler faces up to a year in jail and/or a $5,000 fine.
Unbelievable, if that had been Abby....
That lady has problems, and I don't think jail time is enough. She needs some sort of treatment beyond that.
Sad, but understandable due to her condition.
If it is not proven she needs to be fined the max.
Yes, but she can't just go around doing that. If that service dog had been, say a police dog, it would be assaulting an officer in the eyes of the law. While it is their job to guide us safely, it is our job to be sure they are unharmed.
She'd still just get fined if she wasn't proven to be mentally unstable.
Wayne, come on. Maybe that's the law, but really, this lady should have to serve in the form of some sort of service animal education, for one, and secondly, she should spend some time in the slammer. Sorry, but first of all, who the fuck sprays anyone in the eyes with bleech at a grocery store, whether it's a dog or anyone else. What if there were toddlers in the vicinity? What if her aim was bad. She is an elderly woman with possibly malfunctioning motor skills. anything she may say or anything her lawyer may try to defend her with won't due. The lady sprayed the dog in the eye. It was a seeing eye dog. Bleech at least temporarily blinds anyone who comes in contact with it in that manner, whether it be a dog or a person. So this lady effectively cut off the visual support of the blind lady using this service animal. she might as well have tripped the blind lady or sprayed a bit of water for her to fall over.
How is it that if a person assaults a police dog, it's perceived as assaulting a law officer, but when a seeing eye dog gets injured maliciously, it isn't viewed as if the blind handler was injured indirectly as well.
This could perminently alter the guide team, if not physically then mentally, because the dog may be apprehensive to work outside his home now. May not want to go into a store again, may be weary of older folks, etc.
She may have to retire a perfectly fine working animal just because some mental idiot decided to be cruel without any ounce of reasoning. I'm sorry but I'm of the opinion that ignorance is not a valid excuse. That lady is so lucky that wasn't my dog she sprayed. I'd have been in jail myself if she did that to my dog, because I'd have ripped off her useless head over it.
I dont' tolerate stupidity in the face of cruelty. Sorry if that's harsh but its' the truth.
Were I agree with you, even if this lady had attacked a police dog if she was deemed mentally unstable she'd get easier time. If not, she gets fined or some jail time.
Hopefully a judge will see she needs some help.
I've been sprayed with bleach and it burns. Hopefully the dog will not have an issue.
It is sad, but due to her mental condition, if true, she'll not get to bad.
put this bitch behind bars! fuck her age ormeds she is taking. i am taking meds but i aint going around spraying people whom i think might not belong in stores. so, it was a service animal. here in florida we have the "white cane law" means people cannot hinder our ability to travel safely. so people cannot hamper our ability to travel. i say throw the retarded bitch in jail.
I'd like to act as a voice of reason here.
I definitely agree that people shouldn't go around spraying bleach, or any other irritant, in anyone's face without extreme provocation. On those grounds, the woman needs to be dealt with.
However, if she is older, scared of dogs, prone to panic and/or otherwise feeling menaced, it can be argued that she did what came to mind, and defended herself. This does not in any way excuse her behavior, but it bears consideration. What she did wrong is unquestionable, concrete; why she did it should, at least in part, determine how she's treated.
I think it might be wise to drop the guide-dog angle, however. She is not particularly mean, retarded, or guilty because her target was a guide dog, though this is extremely unfortunate if the animal has any long-lasting damage, either physical or psychological, due to the attack. The fact is that, as far as I'm led to understand, this lady sprayed a chemical irritant in an animal's face, which constitutes an unprovoked attack regardless of target or motive or result. This is basically animal cruelty, plain and simple, and I believe she should be judged accordingly.
One more thing to add. Given that the aggressor has a mental disorder, she clearly needs to be treated for that. If this disorder causes her to be overly paranoid, and if said paranoia caused her to act as she did, then clearly, while she is still at fault (no one else is, that's for sure), then the solution is to minimize the chances of her doing this again, either by changing her medication, remanding her to psychiatric care on the grounds that she constitutes an unprovoked danger to herself or others, or by enacting a punishment which may, in conjunction with others suggested above in this post, combine to make a strong enough impact to matter. Clearly the woman needs help, and clearly the dog did not deserve to be sprayed in the eyes.
And, incidentally, it is reasons like this which have me pretty much decided on not having a dog, among others of course. If my dog gets messed with, I'm suddenly in deep water...but it's a good deal harder to mess with a cane that's firmly in my hand. Not impossible, not at all, but more difficult. Different topic, I suppose. Anyway, that's my two cents' worth. I think the guide-dog outrage is a bit much, but I do think things like this need to be stopped from repeating.
She sounds a bit like the neighbor who kept banging on my door a while bac. Had I had a guide dog during that time I could have seen her doing something that, especiall if she was already confused enough to mistake my apartment for hers at any hour of the day or night. I do agree this woman needs to be at the very least evaluated since the next time it could be not a dog but a child.
Cases like this make things harder for the mentaly ill. I've known mentally ill people who lead normal lives and manage their situations properly, though to my thinking, that must be extremely tough. But as a society, we can't on the one hand say we need more compassion for the mentally ill, and excuse this behavior on the other. If she does get off based on mental illness, others will start thinking this is how the mentally ill behave, and those who need treatment may be shamed out of seeking it, since people think a mental illness means someone is gonna do something like this.
Right, Lio! And, I think there's no excuse. She clearly expressed she doesn't think dogs should be in stores. It's not her place to say that, they're service dogs. Well she may think that and express it, but not act cruelly by spraying bleach on a dog's eyes! She could've gotten out of the stor and waited till the blind person got out with the dog, or go to the other end, it's shameful! Who the fuck in their right mind does that!? She knew she doesn't like dogs, she's scared of them, and took the spray, she knew, I say. Luckally the dog owner didn't go off on her, I would've myself! He helps me, I'll protect him, period.
I think it bears noting that just because the woman said she doesn't think dogs belong in stores does not necessarily mean that she attacked the dog based upon this outlook. I doubt like hell that she thought, "Ah well, this dog doesn't belong here, so I'm going to take it upon myself to lay down the law and get rid of it, by God". If dogs make her nervous or paranoid, it is very likely this feeling which ultimately caused her to act as she did. It's still not right, but instead of this whole "you can't kick guide dogs out of stores or attack them when they're in a place you don't think they ought to be in" mentality, what you're dealing with is pure and simple animal cruelty.
Another post some time ago was talking about a cat who was euthanized apparently because it was blind and aggressive. I think it often becomes easy to lose track of the real point here...not that it was a guide dog that was attacked, but that an animal, full stop, was a victim.
Yes, it was an animal, but it was a guide dog, period. The post says it, guide dog attacked. If it were a monkey, it would also be considered animal cruelty. Sorry, but it's true. Noone knows what she thought, but what she expressed, so...
And, what I'm saying is that it's animal cruelty, nothing more and nothing less. The fact that it was a guide dog is unfortunate as hell, but that really isn't any of the woman's concern.
If you murder someone, your sentence does not legally hinge on the victim's family...how rich they are, how many survive, and so on. You are judged guilty of murder and sentenced based on the severity of your crime in pretty much its own context...that is, the taking of human life. In that way, this woman, who perpetrated an unprovoked attack on an animal (regardless of her reasoning) is guilty of cruelty to animals and should be punished accordingly.
Hair splitting?
I'm just sort of trying to defuse the guide-dog rage, as I earlier labeled it. I think it's horrible that this happened, and I'd think it was equally horrible if it was my pet, a guide dog, or some random stray wandering in off the street.
Yup. Cruelty to animals, plain and simple. I also almost think the woman should have to pay for the cost of the bleach she used. LOL.
Oh, if she had sprayed my pet dog, I'd have been mad as hell as well. That I'll agree with .
I think this is down right evil. The punishment should be subtracting this woman from settings in which such an incident is likely to occur. If that means institutionalization, so be it.
I have cussed out people for hitting my dog with a door while they were so-called opening it or holding it open for us. I cannot imagine what I would have done to this woman.
The guide dog outrage is not over the top at all. Yes, the act would have been cruel no matter what type of dog or animal was the victim. But this dog was not some creature running loose and going wild in the store, it was there on duty with its handler.
I have encountered several people who have a fear of, allergies to, or a general dislike toward dogs. In these cases, these people have removed themselves from mine and my dog's presence rather than trying actively and/or violently to drive my dog away from them.
I am sure is she's not deemed to mentally unwell she'll be charged for the products she used and fined.
I do wonder if the person has spanked her for it would that be called self defence?
This is a problem I see in the Us, someone gets off for "protecting" themselves from a service animal when clearly the dog was not agressive to her. I say spray the woman in a public place with the same crap she sprade the dog. Yes, cruel but think about it, will she do it again knowing it will happen to her again and again?
Fine.
Put a harness on her.
Have her get on all fors and crawl around the store a bit, and then have some old dude get mad and spray her right?
Sound about right to me. Lol
Yeah really. LOL. I could have seen m x girlfriend Sandra doing something like that. She's not afraid of dogs (at least not the small, yappy Chihuahuas she keeps company with), but as I've expressed in other topics she does have te belief, unsupported by hard facts though it may be, that guide dogs regularly turn on their handlers without provocation. So I would not put it past her to do the same thing or even shoot the animal, assuming she hadn't pawned her precious pistol to get more money to blow on parties rather than spend on her daughter's needs.
Oh come on, forereel? Noone's said how to punish her, but, if Ishall protect my animal, I'm going to do what it takes to get people off him!, because, he's on duty to help me. Sheperdwolf, I'm not discarding the fact it's animal cruelty, by all means, however, this is a service dog, as has been pointed out many times. Yes she may hear dogs, yet the way she handled her fear was not ok. And, I wouldn't spray her with the same product, as it would be getting even with her and that's not the point if I'm trying to protect my dog! But whatever punishment she gets is deserved.
Nope, you've got to use a better brand product. She probably got the cheapest ones in case the manager made her pay for them.
Raven, you actually cussed someone out for that? LOL. Makes me remember when I when to apple Bee's and the waiter kept rushing by and not stopping to ask us if we were in need of anything. She would go by to fast for us to tell her.
So when she finally came to give us our checks, she stood over us while we were getting out our money and hung out for five minutes. I waited until she left to get mine out because that made me feel a bit wierd plus I was pist at her for dropping the ticket book on my dogs head and then laughing about it.
Lets just say she didn't get a tip from me and niether from one of our other table mates, not sure about the rest.
and LOL!
Put a harness on her, force her to get on all fours and craw around and let some guy spray bleach in her eyes???
So if she miss behaves, does she get a leash correction too?
No, we'll use a taser instead.
Taze her! Taze her! I feel if my dog is doing her job and is innocent of wrongdoing, somebody will be paying with limbs for doing something like this!
Sad thing is that it will come down to one disability versus another. Wonder if the poor dog cares who's blind and who's crazy?
Probably not. They're probably only concerned wit te fact tat the were minding their own business and someone just sprays this painful stuff in their eyes.