Article published Thursday, July 19, 2007

IN AN exercise of poor judgment, a Hancock County judge and prosecutors let the man who killed a Findlay police dog off way too lightly. It was a miscarriage of justice to allow Steven Vanderhoff to plead to a lesser charge and for the judge to suspend the jail sentence and let him make a nominal donation to the humane society rather than pay for the dog. Mr. Vanderhoff deserved jail time and a major fine.

At the very least, this dog killer should have been made to pay the $15,000 it cost Findlay police to train and outfit Flip. The dog was widely known and adored in the community. But, instead of making the felony charge stick against Mr. Vanderhoff, prosecutors let him plead to a lesser charge of "criminal damaging," meaning they didn't have to prove he knew the dog was a police "officer."
If that weren't enough, Hancock County Common Pleas Court Judge Reginald Routson suspended Mr. Vanderhoff's 90-day sentence, put him on probation for two years, and accepted his $250 contribution to the county's human society in lieu of a fine.

That donation was a pittance compared to the police department's investment, and it's a miserable shame that Mr. Vanderhoff is getting off so easily. Everyone was stunned last November when he shot and killed Flip. A grand jury had enough appreciation for the dog to indict Mr. Vanderhoff for cruelty to animals, a misdemeanor, and for assaulting a police dog, a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $7,500 fine. But the latter charge would have required prosecutors to prove Mr. Vanderhoff knew when he shot Flip that he was a police dog.
Even if you have a heart of stone, that judgment makes no sense, and reasonable people ought to now treat Mr. Vanderhoff like an outcast. If someone destroyed a police car, shouldn't they be forced to make full restitution to the taxpayers? Residents in the prosperous city of Findlay were very fond of Flip, including schoolchildren, which suggests the department's investment in him was well worth it, and more.

True, state law allows property owners the right to shoot a trespassing dog that threatens physical harm. Mr. Vanderhoff insists he was defending himself and his toddler son when he shot the dog as it came upon him at his Jackson Township home. But as we've said before, Mr. Vanderhoff's first account was that the dog wasn't acting aggressively; after all, Flip was familiar with children. Flip didn't go away when Mr. Vanderhoff yelled for him to, so he shot the 5-year-old Belgian Malinois.

It's too bad that Flip had wandered from Findlay police officer Bryon Deeter's home, where he lived as the family pet. Officer Deeter's son forgot to let him back inside before the family left home for an outing.

Flip was approachable, and his popularity suggests everybody should have known about him, and that it was highly unlikely that he was menacing Mr. Vanderhoff. The police dog didn't deserve to die, and now, sadly, it looks as though nobody will really pay for his death.