ARFEE: And still awaiting justice

On July 9, Arfee, the black Lab, is “dispatched” by a Coeur d’Alene city police officer while in a closed van parked at the business where his owner was having lunch.

It is implied that this officer, while investigating a possible (non-violent) child predator, must have already had his weapon drawn as he approached the vehicle. It is stated that the original police report in this incident claimed that the dog, a “vicious pit bull,” lunged through the open window and the officer was forced to shoot. Photos clearly show this could not have been the case and eyewitness reports further make it clear to even a casual observer that Arfee was a black Lab, not a pit bull.

According to these same eye-witnesses, three other officers arrived at the scene shortly thereafter but, again, no one attempted to locate the owner of the van and dog, but just left a business card to have the owner contact them after removing Arfee’s lifeless body. This should certainly bring about speculation as to their joint culpability in this matter.

We subsequently were told that this officer had been re-assigned to a desk job while the incident was being investigated. Even if we are willing to accept this as fact, however, no results from this investigation have yet been released a month later.

According to the Coeur d’Alene Press account of the original incident, all this took place in less than an hour — from dispatch to when all four officers fled.

What in the investigation process is taking so long? Will we ever know the true story? And, if the reporting by The Press is accurate, will these officers be disciplined commensurate with their involvement in the shooting and subsequent “cover-up?”

These are all questions which beg answers and the community of Coeur d’Alene looks forward to them… and justice for Arfee.

L. MASON

Coeur d’Alene