Sarah Schielke - The Life & Liberty Law Office | LOVELAND COP SURPRISES FAMILY, SHOOTS THEIR DOG IN BROAD DAYLIGHT @LifeLibertyLaw | Uploaded August 2021 | Updated October 2024, 2 hours ago.
Warning - This video is extremely distressing and not appropriate for children.
Full Grashorn Bodycam Video available here:
youtu.be/_wexLG6vDD0
On June 29, 2019, Wendy Love and Jay Hamm had spent the day working for their firewood delivery business with their three beloved dogs - Bubba, Max and Herkimer. They needed to fix one of the firewood storage containers before making their last delivery of the day so they stopped in what they thought was an abandoned business parking lot and parked in the back corner to fix the box and let their pups have a quick stretch.
Unbeknownst to them, the owner of the lot was watching remote surveillance video and saw them arrive. Knowing how proudly aggressive Loveland PD was about protecting business interests, he called them up and asked them to go make sure the people parked in the lot didn't "mess with his dumpster."
Officer Mat Grashorn arrived. He saw Wendy and Jay's 16-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback Bubba napping on the pavement. He did not announce himself. He did not wait for back-up. He did not give Wendy and Jay an opportunity to put Bubba on a leash. Instead, he quietly got out of his car, slowly closed his door, and snuck up on the family. After taking two steps, Bubba noticed him and began a happy gallop over to greet him. Grashorn did not retreat. He did not return to his car. Instead, he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the dog.
Jay and Wendy yelled for Bubba to come back and Bubba did so. But the excitement got the attention of their puppy Herkimer, a 14-month-old Staffordshire Terrier/Boxer mix, who had been resting in the truck. Herkimer popped out of the truck to see what the fuss was about. He first ran to Bubba and then noticed Officer Grashorn, and happily ran over to greet him next.
Officer Grashorn, who later repeatedly declared he's "not going to wait around to see if he gets bit," moved his gun from being pointed at Bubba to being pointed at Herkimer. Herkimer wagged his tail as he approached Grashorn. Then Grashorn shot Herkimer. Twice. Once in the head and once in the body. He yelled at Wendy and Jay and told them it was all their fault. He refused to let Wendy go to Herkimer to comfort him. He refused to let Wendy and Jay take Herkimer straight to the vet. Why? Because he wanted Sergeant Metzler to come and make sure nothing further needed to be done to cover up the misconduct before removing the dog from the scene.
At the vet, LPD officers repeatedly told vet staff that Herkimer was a "vicious pitbull" who "attacked one of our officers." Sergeant Metzler told the officers to write Wendy and Jay a ticket for a "vicious dog" because they had said they were going to the press. Herkimer had never hurt or bit a human in his life. "Vicious dog" tickets require that the dog have inflicted bodily injury. Metzler didn't care.
The DA's office later dismissed the charge.
Several supervisory personnel at Loveland PD (including the Chief and Assistant Chief) reviewed the bodycam footage and declared the shooting was "justified," and Grashorn's actions "reasonable" and everything he did was "following Loveland policy."
The next 72 hours were complete despair as Wendy and Jay fought to save Herkimer's life. It wasn't possible. On the morning of the 4th day, Herkimer was euthanized.
Five months after this event, Officer Grashorn and Sergeant Metzler shot and killed a human being. https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news...
Wendy Love and Jay Hamm nearly didn't file this lawsuit due to how much grief reliving this event causes them. But they had no choice. Because the only thing worse than seeing this video… is seeing it, and then doing nothing about it.
Their attorney Sarah Schielke (pronounced “shell-key”) of The Life & Liberty Law Office, provides the following comment: “This is yet another agonizing illustration of all that is wrong at the Loveland Police Department. Dogs are our family. Herkimer could have been any of our beloved pets. And he was shot dead in broad daylight. In the middle of suburbia. By the police. With no consequences to the officer whatsoever. And then found to be reasonable by his superiors. What in the actual hell is going on at the Loveland Police Department?”
“This shooting, and all the other well-publicized events of the past two years,” Schielke states, “make one thing very clear: the Loveland Police Department itself has made the City of Loveland a more dangerous – and frankly, terrifying – place to live. Our grandmothers are not safe. Our disabled are not safe. Our children are not safe. Even our family dogs are not safe. How much worse can it get?”
Warning - This video is extremely distressing and not appropriate for children.
Full Grashorn Bodycam Video available here:
youtu.be/_wexLG6vDD0
On June 29, 2019, Wendy Love and Jay Hamm had spent the day working for their firewood delivery business with their three beloved dogs - Bubba, Max and Herkimer. They needed to fix one of the firewood storage containers before making their last delivery of the day so they stopped in what they thought was an abandoned business parking lot and parked in the back corner to fix the box and let their pups have a quick stretch.
Unbeknownst to them, the owner of the lot was watching remote surveillance video and saw them arrive. Knowing how proudly aggressive Loveland PD was about protecting business interests, he called them up and asked them to go make sure the people parked in the lot didn't "mess with his dumpster."
Officer Mat Grashorn arrived. He saw Wendy and Jay's 16-year-old Rhodesian Ridgeback Bubba napping on the pavement. He did not announce himself. He did not wait for back-up. He did not give Wendy and Jay an opportunity to put Bubba on a leash. Instead, he quietly got out of his car, slowly closed his door, and snuck up on the family. After taking two steps, Bubba noticed him and began a happy gallop over to greet him. Grashorn did not retreat. He did not return to his car. Instead, he pulled out his gun and pointed it at the dog.
Jay and Wendy yelled for Bubba to come back and Bubba did so. But the excitement got the attention of their puppy Herkimer, a 14-month-old Staffordshire Terrier/Boxer mix, who had been resting in the truck. Herkimer popped out of the truck to see what the fuss was about. He first ran to Bubba and then noticed Officer Grashorn, and happily ran over to greet him next.
Officer Grashorn, who later repeatedly declared he's "not going to wait around to see if he gets bit," moved his gun from being pointed at Bubba to being pointed at Herkimer. Herkimer wagged his tail as he approached Grashorn. Then Grashorn shot Herkimer. Twice. Once in the head and once in the body. He yelled at Wendy and Jay and told them it was all their fault. He refused to let Wendy go to Herkimer to comfort him. He refused to let Wendy and Jay take Herkimer straight to the vet. Why? Because he wanted Sergeant Metzler to come and make sure nothing further needed to be done to cover up the misconduct before removing the dog from the scene.
At the vet, LPD officers repeatedly told vet staff that Herkimer was a "vicious pitbull" who "attacked one of our officers." Sergeant Metzler told the officers to write Wendy and Jay a ticket for a "vicious dog" because they had said they were going to the press. Herkimer had never hurt or bit a human in his life. "Vicious dog" tickets require that the dog have inflicted bodily injury. Metzler didn't care.
The DA's office later dismissed the charge.
Several supervisory personnel at Loveland PD (including the Chief and Assistant Chief) reviewed the bodycam footage and declared the shooting was "justified," and Grashorn's actions "reasonable" and everything he did was "following Loveland policy."
The next 72 hours were complete despair as Wendy and Jay fought to save Herkimer's life. It wasn't possible. On the morning of the 4th day, Herkimer was euthanized.
Five months after this event, Officer Grashorn and Sergeant Metzler shot and killed a human being. https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news...
Wendy Love and Jay Hamm nearly didn't file this lawsuit due to how much grief reliving this event causes them. But they had no choice. Because the only thing worse than seeing this video… is seeing it, and then doing nothing about it.
Their attorney Sarah Schielke (pronounced “shell-key”) of The Life & Liberty Law Office, provides the following comment: “This is yet another agonizing illustration of all that is wrong at the Loveland Police Department. Dogs are our family. Herkimer could have been any of our beloved pets. And he was shot dead in broad daylight. In the middle of suburbia. By the police. With no consequences to the officer whatsoever. And then found to be reasonable by his superiors. What in the actual hell is going on at the Loveland Police Department?”
“This shooting, and all the other well-publicized events of the past two years,” Schielke states, “make one thing very clear: the Loveland Police Department itself has made the City of Loveland a more dangerous – and frankly, terrifying – place to live. Our grandmothers are not safe. Our disabled are not safe. Our children are not safe. Even our family dogs are not safe. How much worse can it get?”
