Tasered dog walker — before he was zapped — told park ranger he had a heart condition

A new twist in the case of the Tasered dog walker: After a park ranger informed him she would use her Taser if he walked away, Gary Hesterberg informed her he had a heart condition.

She, seconds later, as he turned her back to her, fired anyway, according to a witness quoted in a Patch.com report.

Given the offense Hesterberg was being detained for was an unleashed dog, given the park ranger’s mission that day was supposedly “educating” dog owners about the new policy, we feel her use of a stun gun falls clearly into the category of over-reacting.

Her use of force was not just unnecessary, it was potentially deadly, and even though Hesterberg originally supplied her with a phony name, even if he may have been argumentative, even if he was aware that the park service had started requiring leashes in Rancho Corral de Tierra two months earlier, the bottom line is 50,000 volts of electricity for one unleashed dog doesn’t add up to anything but brutality.

Howard Levitt, spokesman for the park service, said Hesterberg repeatedly tried to flee the scene, and that the encounter between the dog walker and the park ranger ”moved into a different realm” when Hesterberg gave her a fake name.

“He didn’t have ID and gave a name that turned out to not be his actual name … In checking that out — it’s standard procedure to run somebody’s name when you’re dealing with someone who might be a danger — she asked him to remain on the scene, as we understand it, and more than once he refused to stay there,” Levitt said

If Hesterberg had been placing strange packages under the Golden Gate Bridge, that would be one thing. But he was walking his dogs. There is no  reason — other than over zealous law enforcement, which isn’t a good reason at all — that should escalate into a potentially deadly encounter.

Given a choice of worst case scenarios, I think allowing Hesterberg to go home, and catching him, if it’s really all that important, the next day would be preferable to potentially executing a man for an unleashed dog — if not for reasons of logic, then at least for the park service’s public image.

Posted by jwoestendiek February 3rd, 2012 under Muttsblog.
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Comments

Comment from Tina
Time February 3, 2012 at 12:44 pm

I agree!

“… it’s standard procedure to run somebody’s name when you’re dealing with someone who might be a danger.”

Ok… so HOW was he “a danger”?? Were the dogs out of control? Did other people in the park feel threatened? From the witness testimony I’ve read here – they were all supporting the dog walker, and the dogs… not the ranger…

I’m glad they’re investigating and not just sweeping this under the carpet.

Comment from Miss Jan
Time February 3, 2012 at 6:14 pm

JOHN – you are a wonderfully competent reporter by career/by history. Could you PLEASE post whether we are now required to have ID on us at all times and produce it when demanded by even someone as minutely authoritarian as a “park ranger”??? This is a really frightening aspect of this case that has MUCH wider implications. First – why was a park ranger armed with a taser? Second – why is a park ranger able to “run ID” on anyone? Third – are people required to have ID on themselves and produce it upon any jerk’s demand??? I have an elderly friend, dog person (2 gsd’s) he and his family fled Hitler, he said this is EXACTLY how the Gestapo treated people!! Also FYI the dogs-in-GGNRA-activist group stated to several area newspapers in her open letter to the Park Service the apparent fact that there WERE no rules yet, only a provisional set-up in the newly added area where the dog walker was confronted, detained and almost became a homicide (IMO) victim. I worked for years for a city Public Defender and though no expert this whole thing smacks of police brutality! I don’t even care for the term “overreaching” used in many media reports – in my personal experience what I have witnessed in my career – this IMO is plain old garden variety BRUTALITY.

Comment from Mike
Time February 3, 2012 at 6:26 pm

If this idiot was in any way concerned about his health, he would NOT have given false information or attempted to evade.

Comment from Iggy
Time February 3, 2012 at 10:58 pm

No, you are not required to carry ID at all times. You are required to proivde your real name to an officer and to wait if they asked you to wait. If the dude had merely cooperated with the officer he would not have been zapped. She warned him she would use a taser. Any reasonable person who really has a heart condition would heed the warning–but he chose not to–what an IDIOT.

Comment from Hal Jordan
Time February 4, 2012 at 8:32 am

If you give a fake name to a law enforcement officer, then no, you are not free to leave. She would have been derelict in her duty if she let him walk away after that. She should have detained him by placing him in handcuffs, but seeing that it didn’t happen that way, the Taser was the next best choice. As soon as you go “hands on” with a suspect, you and the suspect are at much greater danger of injury.

Comment from KateH
Time February 4, 2012 at 6:30 pm

I am so frickin’ tired of the crap about putting a hand on someone is automatically going to cause the ‘officer’ injury greater than the potential killing of the ‘offender’ by electrocution. So many (not all, of course) ‘officers’ of so many types are just acting like dicks and then getting pissed off when the person they’re talking to (yelling, screaming at, insulting) responds to that dickishness by ignoring them (walking away), so they pull weapons designed to apply pain and cause physical damage, and use them when not being a dick would have done a better job.

Comment from smoketoomuch
Time February 6, 2012 at 10:10 am

The “officer” clearly overreacted to the situation, and should be investigated (And I second the question “What was a park Ranger doing with a Taser in the first place?”) What the hell is happening in this country??

Comment from Rox
Time February 7, 2012 at 1:44 pm

Hal Jordan – he was LATER “charged” (which charge I understand did not stick) with “giving a false name”. After the fact, to make him look worse. He did not have ID on him but evidently Miss RangerPants felt that was “faking.” In the United States generally except in Arizona and Alabama, the two states fighting illegal immigration with possibly unconstitutional laws, you are NOT required to “carry ID” much less present it to anyone demanding it. Further, Hesterberg according to numerous eyewitnesses repeatedly asked the ranger if he was being arrested and SHE refused to answer HIM except to threaten him with the taser to which he responded that he had health issues that might cause his death if tasered so she waited until he turned and walked away a few steps WHICH HE IS LEGALLY ALLOWED TO DO IF NOT BEING ARRESTED. Then she tasered him in the back. Again – your rights are this: you can ask if you are being arrested and if so for what; the officer MUST answer you; you cannot be detained unless you ARE being arrested and advised of your rights. Finally, the officer had no reasonable suspicion of criminal activity – at most, walking a dog off leash even in a newly added park area where there was little OR NO regulatory signing would be a misdemeanor, not a felony. Misdemeanors are ticketed, no arrests are made. The other things being said by the Park Service about Hesterberg are to justify what the ranger did. That is why there are widespread calls for independent investigations of the incident including by a US Congresswoman.

Comment from mila urban
Time August 31, 2012 at 10:58 am

Our park rangers do a very complicated job, much more so than police officers. they are then ridiculed by over educated, under informed morons. they face drug users, sellers, and growers, all dangerous. seeing as this man lied about his name without hesitation why should we believe him when he claims to have a “heart condition”?
remember park rangers are federal law enforcement officers.

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