NH woman arrested for making faces at a dog

[lildog]

Seriously folks, I though it was a joke at first but a woman was arrested for making faces at a dog.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070607/ap_on_fe_st/odd_making_faces_2;_ylt=AoKvTdOZr.DsLYOuot7RHFME1vAI

A prosecutor has dropped charges against a woman who was arrested for staring at and making faces at a police dog.

...

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.

[KBCraig]

Already being discussed here:
http://newhampshireunderground.com/forum/index.php?topic=9088.0

[SAK]

Really they would need the dog to sign an affidavit to claim a crime was committed.

The cops should have kept their paws off her

[Atlas]

I can't believe what I'm reading. These cops treat these dogs better than they treat their wives. What does that tell ya? Sickos???

[Raineyrocks]

Uh, oh I just smiled at a dog in the store.  Oh wait the dog was leading a blind lady around so she couldn't see me smile, whew!  Oh no but there were cameras in the store, that's it I'm going on the lamb now!  Wait a minute I don't want to get charged for peeing on a lamb so I mean I'm running away somewhere. 

In all seriousness, (yes I have to make a big effort), this is ridiculous.

Did anybody hear about that girl that isn't getting her diploma because she was cheered as she crossed the stage?  I forget what state it was in but I think the principal had the people that were coming sign papers saying they wouldn't disrupt anything.