Updated at 10:11 a.m.
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
A dog who reportedly charged officers preparing to make a warrant arrest at a vacant Centralia house was shot last night.
The animal’s condition is unknown this morning.
Centralia Police Department detective Patty Finch said police went to the residence on the 100 block of South Cedar Street because they knew a 31-year-old Onalaska woman with a felony warrant was there.
It was about 7:50 p.m. and officers found three or four individuals who shouldn’t have been at the house because it’s condemned, according to police.
The dog was shot once, with the officer’s handgun, in the front shoulder-leg area, Finch said.
The animal – described as a large white pit bull – was taken to Cascade Veterinary Clinic, she said.
“To my understanding, the dog is still there, I don’t know the condition,” Finch said this morning.
According to Finch, as officers contacted the individuals inside, the dog exited the house and charged at Sgt. Carl Buster.
Buster feared he was going to be attacked and fired one shot, according to Finch.
Alisha M. Rowley, 31 of Onalaska, was booked in to the Lewis County Jail for her warrant. Richard D. Thoreson, 42, of Centralia and John R. Cabell, 23, of Olympia, were booked for trespassing, according to police.
Detectives and police commanders were called to the scene last night, Finch said.
Tags: By Sharyn L. Decker, news reporter
Dog lover is right – put bulls are always the “bad guy”. They don’t deserve it, but the media hype has turned an uneducated public into hate mongering crowds OOut for blood. Officers encounter lots of dogs, I’m sure, but you never see the breed mentioned in the headlines unless it’s a pittie. A little education (maybe meet one in person before judging) would go a long way. They are awesome, amazing, smart, loving animals,and I feel blessed to be owned by one.
To the folks that think Cascade Veterinary Clinic is so Awesome…those awesome people let Gaucho lay there with a Gun wound and a leg broke in half for two nights and three days before being treated because of their worrying they might not get paid…Now since their awesome lack of concern for a suffering injured dog his leg had to be amputated. I realize the Vet needs to make a living just like anyone else but how does someone that is suppose to care about animals just let one lay there and suffer in pain and do nothing about it for days until their sure they will get their money. Officer Buster new Gaucho and that he was nothing but a big baby and didn’t bite but he startled the officer when he came out of the house and he just over reacted. What I really don’t understand is why the whole block was surrounded with police cars to many to count just to pick up some girl on a warrant.. sounds a little too overplayed and of course at the expense of the taxpayers. It had too cost a small fortune to pay so many officers that night who spent a couple hours there even after the people were arrested and long gone. The city seems to have a bottomless pit amount of money to spend when it comes too just picking someone up on a warrant and arrest people for trespassing on their own property but are too broke when it comes too paying for shooting a innocent dog or god forbid helping out at all for a outdoor pool for it’s kids.
Moral of the story, Dont be tweaking in vacant houses in centralia. Don’t play the game unless you wanna get burned.
Just amazing the postal service has delt with dogs for decades. Never a shot fired by the mail service. Give a cop a gun and this is whatcha get
R.T., if what you are saying is true, and none of us here have any right to assume otherwise, I would think you would have some legal issues with this. Start now while everyone’s memory’s are fresh. Get statements and include dates and names of everyone involved. Then contact Jesse Jones with Kiro TV…he may just be willing to take this on. I too am glad your boy will be ok and utterly disgusted that he had to suffer. Be glad Cascade West was there for him, they are great! Good luck to you and don’t stop until you have justice. You could also try a Go Fund Me account, most people I know would always help a dog!
I’m so sorry for you and your dog!! My dog is my best good friend and I just can’t imagine looking into Boss’s eyes (my dog) and staying on the ground and stay calm! I think you handle it better than most people would have or could have!! I will be praying for you and gaucho!! I’m glad he pulled through
and by the way I just got gacho out of the veterinarian’s office today they amputated his leg and when this all happened and he was taken to the vet’s the officer told them that he was entirely the Centralia Police Department responsibility and they signed for it then later that day they contacted the veterinarian’s office and notified them that they would not be paying a dime and that that officer did not have the authority to say that I had to beg borrow steal and asked many others to help the evening to get him to start working on gacho because they wouldn’t work on him for a day and a half until I could get payment arrangements because they had backed out they didn’t understand why they also said that if they weren’t going to do that.Joe Gacho suffered for a day and a half with no treatment and that’s why you had to have his leg amputated it might have been saved if they could have treated him earlier I have pictures I’m going to post them on Facebook
A few things need comment here, first off im the owner of the dog and i had no warrants nor was I trespassing I’ve lived there for over 10 years. As for attacking the officer, the dog was trying to escape and run free like he does everytime some bonehead leaves my door open which this time was the officer that pulled a girl out of my doorway and on to the ground . And the escape artist saw his chance, and bolted towards the open gate neither growling or barking . Officer buster more than likely was startled and made a hasty decision and realised his mistake at last min and directed his shot left instead a kill shot like he was trained.i know carl and he has no malice towards me .also they went to great lengths to calm me down since i was trying to go to my family member who they shot and came limping back to me when i was ordered at gunpoint in the sitting there bleeding out looking at me like why won’t you help me for my loved one in the sitting there bleeding out looking at me like” why won’t you help me Dad”so I start talking some smack darn right I was very upset so that made a few of the officers upset at me I’m sorry voice my opinions in my rights both I was been ticketed for criminal trespass in the second degree for working on a house that my family owns and I’m allowed to be at and remodel I calm down and apologize to all the officers say that I’m sorry and the acting chief insisted that I be arrested and go to jail when protocol is usually right at ticket and I walk instead they decided to waste taxpayers money have me booked into jail and I had to bail out almost lose my job and some more hassle. now those of you who want to talk about something you better get your facts straight before you open your mouth about something you know nothing of and you tell me you be so gung ho about them shooting your family member that dog has bitten no one ever he doesn’t bite anyone half the cops know him already because they havegiving him rides home head sticking out their window there cop car with officer stating” all I did was open the door and he jumped right in and said lets go”
OK not one person is really knowing what happened except for the people that were at the house at the time. As far as goycho, this poor loving dog now has to suffer the rest of his life for something that had nothing to do with him. All people who want to blame this loving creature or his owner really need to put their feet in the other persons shoes. To be arrested for trespassing on your own property and then not even being let to comfort a part of your family (goycho) is more or less in my opinion assinine. He was not shot in the foot but he was shot in the shoulder with a broken leg in two. GET IT RIGHT!
To D. Whisler…thank you….to everyone who defended the action of the little baby officer…enough said!!
I live at the end of that block and the guy arrested for trespassing has lived there for many years and his father owns it so no trespassing there and I know the pit bull that lives there and somebody forgot to tell him that he is suppose to be vicious because he is nothing more than a big baby that doesn’t have a mean bone in his body and if he approached the officer it was to be petted…why did the officer bring in the police dog? What usually happens when u put two male dogs together? Very poor decision making on officers part …dog is still alive but has to have leg amputated so was not shot in foot and shot him in the upper part of leg probably aiming for his heart…I am not happy about Gun shots carelessly being
Shot off in my neighborhood.
Who’s awesome? Cascade Veterinary Clinic is awesome! Sgt. Carl Buster did what he had to do in this situation. I would do the same thing… and also press charges against the dog owner.
i may be wrong but the messed up part is that that dog isnt even hers, if its “gaucho” then his owner is currently locked up in prison gor the last 5 years and that is because of this same chick that is always getting out of trouble because she.tells on her closest “friends” and not only does she get them busted she gets to continue to flail around and be a lowlife while others do her time. amd now an innocent dog is shot and probably killed because she was too scared to do her own time and then takes a poor inoocnet animal to an abandoned house? she needs to rot.
Does everyone tht is bantering back and forth about the dog, know where the dog was shot? The dog was shot in the foot, he will make a full recovery. Any animal who feels threatened for his life or his owners life, will naturally be on the defense. Its their nature. It wouldnt matter what type of dog. The point here i s that the dog was only doing what he was suppossed to. The police had a dog with them too, so the dogs reaction was legit. Furthermore, the dog was not just roamoing around unwatched, the police were entering the fenced in yard. I live on the same street. Seen it all!
I love dogs but if I was the officer-it would of been a no-brainer-I would of dispatched the dog
Sgt. Buster is an absolutely amazing man. He is the best of the best and I know he wouldnt have shot that dog unless he needed too. It is sad that it had to happen but instead of blaming the officer why don’t you blame the owner.. The police where just doing there job. Which wouldn’t of needed to be done if they did not have warrents out for there arrest. As for him having his gun drawn they are going to a house in which they don’t know what’s going to happen I don’t know bout u but if I where in that situation I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be doing it with pepper spray!!!
Nothing but a bullet will stop a charging pit bull. Pepper spray won’t work, but you loudmouths are welcome to try it the next time a pit bull is attacking you. Good luck.
People always target animals, weather it’s the police or a vista freed people will always blame the pits. Smh what is the world coming to these days.
Salesman police do carry mace. Just the other day a police officer shot at a dog and the bullet struck a child. Its funny that the mail officials never have to shoot a dog. Give a cop a gun and the public loses.
It is just one more negative strike in the media in regard to pit bulls. More appropriately, it’s a cowardice move. The dog was not who they were issuing the warrant to…pff!
By all means let’s worry about the poor large white pit bull who charged the police officer. You want police officers to carry pepper spray when issuing a warrant instead of a gun just in case a dog (or bear) attacks?
who has to pay the vet bill?
Its funny that ups or any mail delivering services ever need to shoot a dog. Mace works and also works against bear attacks.
Isn’t that a little excessive? Sounds like he already had his gun drawn ready to shoot when pepper spray would have been sufficient.