A 71-year-old man killed in an attack by 4 dogs Tuesday early morning in Ocean View was an animal fan, according to his child.
Shannon Matson, child of Bob Northrop, said Wednesday on Facebook that her dad was walking to a friend’s house when the deadly attack happened on the Outrigger Drive road.
“I can’t even begin to put into words all the complicated things I feel right now,” said Matson. “Mostly I dislike that (news protection) says his name is ‘Robert Northrop’ trigger everybody who understands him understands it’s Bob. Also he was an animal fan so this is a specifically terrible twist of fate, however likewise all who understood him understands he never ever did anything half-assed, so all of us understood he was gonna leave this world in some sort of wild and insane method.
“Hopefully this will be the last time anyone on our island loses their life to a dog attack. He wasn’t the first but I will do everything in my power to make sure he is the last.”
According to Matson, an autopsy on her dad’s body is scheduled for today.
Police are examining Northrop’s killing as an irresponsible failure to manage an unsafe dog case.
The dogs’ owners were not home at the time of the attack, cops said. They have actually been recognized, nevertheless, and gotten in touch with by officers.
So far, they haven’t been detained or booked on suspicion of the unsafe dog charge — unlike Frederick Kassebeer, a dog owner who was almost instantly detained and booked after the May 27 mauling of 32-year-old Amber Clausen, a next-door neighbor of the Kassebeers’ Ainaloa property in Puna.
Kassebeer and his other half, Kazzy, have actually because been arraigned and pleaded innocent to the charges.
“Without getting too far into the actual criminal investigation, I will just say for in order for us to make an arrest, we have to make sure that we have elements to prove all of the different parts of the crime, right? So, while it may appear pretty obvious that some of those elements have been met, some of them are going to require a little bit more investigation — which we are prepared to do immediately,” Police Chief Benjamin Moszkowicz said Wednesday.
Investigators are checking out claims that the dogs had actually formerly been reported as roaming animals, according to cops, which’s one of the components that requires to be examined prior to an arrest can be made, Moszkowicz said.
According to the chief, cops have instant access to the county’s animal control records, consisting of when cops managed the tasks themselves, however not to the records of the not-for-profit companies that formerly were contracted for animal control services.
“One of the elements of the crime can’t just be that the dogs got loose,” he said. “It has to be that the owner was reckless or acted negligently. So, if we can prove with those records that the dogs had previously gotten loose, that gives us a lot more evidence, where we can prove with the prosecutors and the courts the state of mind of the owners. That they should’ve known — even if they didn’t know — of this past pattern of behavior.”
Police state the owners have actually given up all 4 dogs declared to have actually participated in the attack, plus a litter of 10 puppies to county Animal Control representatives.
“It really is a senseless tragedy. It’s something that could have, should have been avoided,” Moszkowicz said. “And we’re going to do our best to make sure that if there’s criminal liability, that the people who are liable are brought to justice.”
Puna Councilwoman Ashley Kierkiewicz authored the area of Hawaii County Code under which the Kassebeers are being prosecuted and cops are utilizing in their examination into Northrop’s death.
In August 2021, an 85-year-old constituent of Kierkiewicz, Delores Oskins, was assaulted by dogs in Hawaiian Paradise Park. She passed away 24 days later on, on Sept. 5, 2021.
‘There was no justice for Delores Oskins when she was, generally, trampled to death, so we wished to send out a strong message to the neighborhood: Please secure your animal so that nobody needs to reside in worry of being assaulted and possibly passing away,” Kierkiewicz said. “There was nothing to keep dog owners accountable, so we set up the framework in Bill 125, hoping that people see this and are driven to take every precaution necessary to make sure that their animals are secured.”
Kierkiewicz said she is “horrified” that cops have actually two times needed to utilize the unsafe dog law this year due to the fact that of dog attacks, and suggested more may require to be done.
“We’re looking at the bill. Unfortunately, we’ve had to use it. But what more can we do to incentivize folks to make sure their dogs are secure? We have to look at that.”
Email John Burnett at [email protected].