La Plata County resident Joshua Breunig has been to jail three times and is scheduled to go to trial in June over his dog, Buddy, who is accused of running loose and chasing a 13-year-old boy.
Breunig denies the charge, but more than that, the 32-year-old Army veteran is baffled that a simple dog-at-large charge has landed him in jail three times and could cost him hundreds of dollars in fines.
Breunig acknowledges he made mistakes, primarily failing to show up for court, but he said it’s disturbing that someone can be arrested and placed in jail for situations like these. It seems the matter could have been resolved with a fine, he said.
“I’m not sitting here blaming everything on the system, but it’s funny how it all works,” he said. “It’s like this huge snowball. The system is set up to do that.”
Failure to appear is the most common charge facing inmates at the La Plata County Jail. In 2015, it was charged 666 times, almost three times more than the second-most-charged offense of drunken driving, which was charged 236 times.
Breunig’s problems started March 30, 2015, when a 13-year-old boy reported a dark brown pit bull chased him and growled at his friend in Durango West I subdivision.
Animal Protection Officer Gary Skiba found the dog sitting in Breunig’s driveway. Buddy appeared skittish, but after a few minutes of coaxing, Skiba gained Buddy’s confidence and placed him into custody.
Skiba called Breunig to notify him of the situation.
“I told Breunig that since Buddy was at-large without supervision and had threatened two young people, I would issue a citation for dog-at-large and that he would also be liable for impound fees,” Skiba wrote in his report.
Breunig asked if the officer would simply put Buddy back inside the fenced yard, but the officer declined to do so. Breunig said he works two full-time jobs and probably wouldn’t be able to retrieve Buddy until the next day.
It was two days before Breunig picked up his dog, at which time he paid an impound fee and was cited for dog-at-large.
Breunig thought that was the end of it. He didn’t realize he also needed to appear in court, so he missed the court date and an arrest warrant was issued.
Soon after the missed court date, Breunig was stopped for a minor traffic offense and taken to jail on the warrant, where he stayed from about 6 p.m. until midnight, when a friend bailed him out for about $200.
A second court date was scheduled, but it was postponed by the court, and Breunig accidentally missed the second date. Again, he was stopped on a traffic offense, arrested and booked into jail for the night. He bailed out for about $200.
The third arrest resulted from a technicality: Because he missed a court date, he was in violation of his bail bond, so the bail bondsman called him into the Sheriff’s Office, where he was booked for a third time. Again, he posted bail for about $200.
The 6th Judicial District Attorney’s Office offered to dismiss the dog-at-large charge if Breunig would participate in mediation, in which he would meet with the 13-year-old boy to discuss the situation. But mediation was going to cost him $180, and he viewed it as another way the court system gouges criminal defendants.
Prosecutors also offered to settle Breunig’s case by dismissing his traffic offenses if he would plead guilty to the dog-at-large case. But he refused the offer, saying Buddy is a loving dog, and he doesn’t want anything on his record that suggests he is aggressive.
Breunig has registered Buddy as an emotion support dog, and former Durango resident Rachal Kunze obtained a doctor’s prescription six months ago that says Buddy helps her 3-year-old son cope with anxiety and depression. The prescription also allowed her to keep Buddy in an apartment that otherwise didn’t allow pets, she said.
“He (my son) still thinks of Buddy to this day every time he gets upset,” said Kunze, who now lives in North Carolina.
District Attorney Todd Risberg said it’s important for people to show up to court or make other arrangements prior to the hearing.
“The judge, as a matter of course, usually issues a warrant for people who don’t show up for court,” he said.
Risberg said he doesn’t know much about the case, but he’s hopeful it can be resolved amicably.
“Generally, we try to reach some sort of reasonable resolution, especially in dog cases,” Risberg said. “Hopefully, we’ll get some sort of resolution that works for everybody.”
Breunig said he’s ready to fight a Byzantine justice system that is set up to extract money from people who can least afford it.
“On a city level, shouldn’t a town like this be able to handle certain things through administrative processes instead of just sending everyone to jail?” he said. “That is huge tax money.”
shane@durangoherald.com
Joshua Breunig court docs (PDF)
