MONTARA, Calif. — A man walking his dogs in a federal park overlooking the Pacific Ocean was hit with a stun gun and arrested by a park ranger who accused him of not tethering the animals, astonishing passers-by who say the reaction was excessive.
The ranger deployed the stun gun on Gary Hesterberg after he gave a false name and then tried to walk away from the encounter Sunday, the National Park Service said. Hesterberg was allegedly walking his dogs without leashes in violation of the rules of Rancho Corral de Tierra, which was recently incorporated into the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
A witness, Michelle Babcock, told the San Francisco Chronicle the ranger never gave Hesterberg an explanation as to why he was being detained and then hit him with the stun gun in the back.
“He just tried to walk away,” Babcock said. “She never gave him a reason. … It didn’t make any sense.”
Calls to the park service and a listing for Hesterberg were not immediately returned Tuesday. No one answered the door at Hesterberg’s home in Montara, a coastal community in San Mateo County with about 3,000 residents.
A neighbor, Judith Rosenberg, said she heard about the incident from a woman who claimed to have witnessed it. Rosenberg, who was walking her own dog when she found out, said she complained in an email to federal park officials.
“I was very concerned they are Tasering people just for not having their dogs on a leash,” said the 55-year-old. “It just seems really excessive.”
Rosenberg said the chief ranger for the recreational area replied with some details of the incident. In the response, which she shared with The Associated Press, Kevin Cochary said Hesterberg was “not compliant, tried to run away and lied to the investigating ranger about his name.”
“We will look into this matter in depth,” Cochary wrote.
Hesterberg was arrested on suspicion of failing to obey a lawful order, having dogs off-leash and knowingly providing false information, Howard Levitt, a spokesman for the park service, told the Chronicle.
Levitt said the ranger asked Hesterberg to remain at the scene, and he repeatedly tried to leave. The unidentified ranger was able to stop him after deploying the stun gun, Levitt said.
The ranger was trying to educate residents about the leash requirement, he said. The recreation area has proposed tougher rules for dog walkers, including requiring leashes in open spaces where dogs currently roam untethered and closing some popular dog-walking areas to canines.
Park service officials and environmentalists said they want to protect some 1,200 native plant and animal species, including the Snowy Plover, a federally endangered shorebird.
Information from: San Francisco Chronicle, http://www.sfgate.com
You pass these things out to cops and don’t be surprised at what happens. Many of them are just panting to use them.
Many more than anyone would suppose. Jonathan Turley’s blog recounts stories like this, unnecessary use of force, several times a week.
Based on what is being reported this looks very very bad.
“Hesterberg was arrested on suspicion of failing to obey a lawful order”!!!! That is very disturbing verbage. NDAA is in full effect. I am just waiting for the obituary for the Bill Of Rights. We had one for common sense a long time ago.
You missed that a long time ago…It was called The Patriot Act…..
http://www.odmp.org/officer/15332-park-ranger-steve-renard-makuakane-jarrell Enough Said. ….
That guy didn’t approach his attacker, he was ambushed. This guy was walking his freaking dog, and there were witnesses. Sorry, not really, but that is just a bunch of crap. Not even close to the same situation. She shot him because he walked away with his dog!!! Not the same thing.
But let’s go ahead and give everyone a concealed weapons permit. Enough said
According to John Barlett, a nearby resident who was walking in the area. The dog-walker was “defiant,” Barlett said, daring the ranger as he began walking away, “Are you going to arrest me?”………. RUSJAN you are right there was witnesses. The BDN fails to provide both sides of the story……. the end.
Even so, do these actions really constitute a tasering? Those things have been known to kill people!
If you are breaking the law, you are breaking the law. More than likely this person would have just recieved a warning. Instead, it sounds like he was lying and being a jerk, then tried to walk away from the ranger. While she may have been a little quick to grab the tazer, should she have just let him walk away and ignore her????
I think the type of crime needs to be looked at before you start tazering people. So if they didn’t have the tazer what would they have used…a gun? For having a dog at large and giving a false name??? How did they know the name was false that quick???
OK…..DOES ANYONE see in this article where either one of the two witnesses describe this man as being “defiant”??? I don’t even see the word “defiant” in the article, not once. Nor do I see the name “Bartlett”, are you making this up?
You are wrong, both witnesses interviewed could not understand why the man was being tasered, and one of them actually notified park officials to complain. The first witness (Babcock) was quite appalled, and the second witness mentioned (Rosenburg) emailed the NPS and complained.
The ranger and her supervisor’s described him as “non-compliant”. Read the story 0007! and try to get your facts straight. She made the situation worse.
The man had every right to ask whether he was being arrested, and then if he weren’t being arrested, walking away. If the ranger thought the man’s “crime” was worthy of arrest, she should have arrested him. When will citizens get it through their heads that they do not have to answer questions from law enforcement officials just because they’re asked? And what’s the “punishment” for walking your dogs off leash, anyway – a citation? Why didn’t she just issue the guy a citation?
People with power issues, i.e., psychological problems, should not be put in positions of power, and should never be issued weapons.
Incident Date: 12/12/1999
The view from that park is stunning.
Yes, It’s Electrifying !
Sends a tingle up my spine just thinking about it.
Wow, “panting to use them”, the “rangre needs to be tazered”, and no word from the officer who used it, the guy gave a false name, tried to leave and was not following the orders of the rangers, was breaking the law, you folks are ………… well the BDN rules say I have to be nice, just glad you are able to make stupid comments without having ALL the info.
“Don’t tase me bro” Come on really? He gave a false name? Surely he deserves the chair for that!
How did she know it was a false name at the time, is she psychic . POLICE STATE PLUS
Fahrenheit 451=Patriot Act
I think this law enforcement official did the right thing.
We use a stun gun in our household and I can tell you it is an effective behaviour modification tool with our daughter Kate when she refuses to do her homework.
There is a problem with gramps though. He just turned 86 and we have to limit
how often we “stun him” and usually try to keep the voltage setting on 25,000.00 volts.
We deviate from the normal Maine family in that we pepper spray the person first
making it harder to avoid being stunned.
Hey don’t worry, it’s not your family,eh?
The only problem I see with this story is the lawsuits the victim will file and again the taxpayer
will have to pick up the tab for the legal judgement.
Yes I know you are going to say if there was a volunteer civilian review police board with subpoena powers justice would be served.
But you know up front the Maine moonbats are to busy fighting Climate Change and Global Warming
to worry about the mercenaries you did not hire to protect you.
Civilian control over law enforcement, Yawn……,.,
Food Crisis as Drought and Cold Hit Mexico
see link for full story
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/world/americas/drought-and-cold-snap-cause-food-crisis-in-northern-mexico.html?_r=1
By KARLA ZABLUDOVSKY
January 30, 2012
MEXICO CITY — A drought that a government official called the most severe Mexico had ever faced has left two million people without access to water and, coupled with a cold snap, has devastated cropland in nearly half of the country.
Seems excessive, ranger must of been having a “woof” day.
“The ranger was trying to educate residents about the leash requirement, he said.” Yup, good ole electro-education. It does the trick every time. I hear they are going to start issuing tazers to public school teachers. It helps them educate (read indoctrinate) the children into the police state we are creating.
Well goolllly…if it’s that easy to educate people, why don’t we have one for the Blaine House?
“Will ’em..still ’em..teach ’em..drill ’em…Learn ’em even if it Kills ’em..
I cannot believe they are backing him up on this. Must be a state police academy drop out with an itchy trigger finger. Good thing he did not have a gun, I guess. Picking on citizens is a lot easier then getting the Mexican drug cartels grow farms out of our national parks.
Same training as the ANP…….Better keep those dogs on a leash, or ELSE!
Next thing you know they will be enforcing the death penalty for parking violations. Sure makes me want to visit California.
The guy was breaking the law, gave a false name, and kept trying to walk away. I guess the ranger should have grabbed him by the arm or something to keep him from walking away. Either that or the ranger could have just ignored the violation, let him walk away, and gone and got a cup of coffee……
I can see this happening in ANP, bored, cop wanna be rangers, just waiting for the chance to use that new tazer.
Seems fair to me. Walking multiple dogs without leashes. Strike 1. Giving false information to a federal officer. Strike 2. Obstructing justice and walking away in direct violation of a federal officers instructions. Strike 3. This bozo is going to jail. His dogs are going to a pound. The officer will probably get 5 paid days off. Good for her. The guy was probably on his way to let his dogs maul a toddler or some elderly people (might as well have been, they weren’t on leashes!). This chick saved the day.
Again and again we see people gravitate to enforcement work – because of personal defects.
Any given society has reached its capacity for law enforcement when the number of laws being enforced reaches a tipping point where there aren’t enough “natural police” – those who possess the characteristics necessary to this very exacting line of work.
What we see now is cop wannabees – sadists actually – as prison guards, park rangers, and rent a cops. This is a symptom of a very very sick society.
It’s all down hill from here. And we must stop it in its tracks.
Unless you are under arrest, you are free to leave the scene of detention. You must ask the official, Am I under arrest?” If they do not answer clearly and positively, you are legally free to go about your business. That doesn’t mean you won’t get tazered or shot by an officer who is indifferent to the law however.
Well said.
nice move…. welcome to Amerika
Things to expect up north when Quimby starts a new Federal Park. Get used to it. It’s on the way.
The question is whether he was, in fact, under arrest. Police can stop you and ask you for your name. You are not required, unless you are operating a motor vehicle, to show physical documentation. After this you should ask the officer, “Am I under arrest.” If the officers answers: “No,” you are free to go. Say, “Thank you” and leave. You are not required to answer any other questions or to stay put if you are not declared under arrest. Of course, you could still be tazed or shot or beat up and have to prove yourself innocent later in court. After all this is the good old USA. Power does have it’s priviledges.
So our military vets are sick? Let’s guess at how many soldiers you spit on when they returned from ‘Nam. You are disgusting
I take offense to your comment. 20 plus years in the military.
….
Maybe after some social skills training this ranger might be ready to walk (more likely drive) a beat. On the other side of it, why give a false name when the issue is an unleashed dog? Nothing in the article captures the tone of voice or the body language of either male, but like the other mammals, we’re hard-wired to pick up on both, and that’s where things often get testy. Reptile reaction and testosterone – not always a good combination. That’s where the professional’s social skills are most needed. Some have ’em, some don’t. Desk jobs should be filled with those who don’t.
Dogs off leash at the park is law.
A good cop will use wit and cunning to foil a crime and mellow the offender.
More and more we are seeing these types of reports. Here in Oregon two recent shootings by Police left two young unarmed men killed because Police did not use common sense. This also happened when I lived in Maine and a disabled vet was killed at his home by a Game warden because he reacted by grabbing his gun when police barged in..what ever happened to negotiations? NDAA may prove to be a serious blow to civilians because of an already gun happy law enforcement membership!
I always try and look on the bright side.
The Park Ranger was not carrying a chainsaw,eh?
When reading articles about the FBI remember who the FBI Public Relations dept is writing them for.
In this story I assume
1, there will be a lawsuit and the taxpayer will again pick up the tab.
1. If this woman and her daughter never had Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome they will have it now
1, No FBI agent gets fired.
1, Notice how the story is spun.
They use the word ooops to diminish the crime they committed
Oops! FBI uses chain saw on wrong door
see link for full story
http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/01/10288790-oops-fbi-uses-chain-saw-on-wrong-door
WHDH-TV’s Victoria Block reports.
By NBC News and news services
A
Massachusetts woman says the FBI used a chain saw blade to cut through
her door and held her at gunpoint for at least 30 minutes before agents
realized they were conducting a raid at the wrong home.
Judy
Sanchez, of Fitchburg, says she awoke to heavy footsteps in the
stairwell on Jan. 26 and walked into her kitchen in time to see a blade
chop through her door.
“I took two steps, face the second door,
and I heard the click of a gun, and saying, ‘FBI, get down,’ so I laid
down on my living room floor,” Sanchez told WHDH.com. “I was screaming,
‘You have the wrong apartment, you have the wrong apartment,’ over fifty
times. And then I seen the big blade coming down my door.”
She says she was held face-down on the floor at gunpoint while her 3-year-old daughter Ji’anni cried in another room.
The lady federal ranger was overeager, and not not acting ladylike.
Very bad for rangers’ public image; sum loss.