News-Times Whidbey
Sports: Grapplers, swimmers head to state. A9
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2012 | Vol. 113, No. 13 | www.whidbeynewstimes.com | 75¢
Dermatologist saga ends in tragedy By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
Dr. Russell Johnson
A former Coupeville dermatologist who recently made headlines for domestic violence was killed early Sunday morning in a gruesome accident near Deception Pass Bridge. Donald “Russell” Johnson, 53, was thrown from his car after crashing it into a rock
Coby
embankment and was run over by the trooper who had been pursuing him for speeding and reckless driving. Johnson pleaded guilty last Thursday to two counts of fourth-degree domestic violence assault and one count of violating a domestic violence restraining order. He was accused of choking his girlfriend and threatening to
kill her at their Cornet Bay home Sept. 6. Johnson was sentenced to the 113 days he already served and released from jail. Just before 6 a.m. Sunday, Trooper Jason Knott with the Washington State Patrol saw Johnson speeding and driving recklessly in his 2000 Toyota Celica on Cornet Bay
Tank
Road, just east of Highway 20. According to Trooper Mark Francis, the public information officer, Knott tried to pull the Celica over, but Johnson didn’t yield. The Celica was clocked at 78 mph at one point during the pursuit. Knott pursued the car as it turned north on Highway
20. He lost sight of the car in the 30 mph zone and was just about to terminate the pursuit when the accident occurred, according to Francis. Out of the trooper’s sight, Johnson drove across the oncoming lane of traffic, struck a rock embankment just north of the bridge and See Johnson, A4
Nana
Girl, 13, mauled by 3 pit bulls in Oak Harbor By JESSIE STENSLAND Staff reporter
A 13-year-old girl was mauled and seriously injured when three pit bulls attacked her outside an Oak Harbor apartment last Thursday. Oak Harbor Police Chief Rick Wallace said the girl was driven to the North Whidbey Inn on SE Midway Boulevard, where the owner of the dogs lived in a longterm room. The girl knew the 25-year-old woman and was there to pick up a vacuum. But when the woman opened the door, her three pit bulls charged out the door past the woman and attacked the girl in front of the doorway. They bit her on the face, hand, chest and feet. “She was seriously injured, but it wasn’t life threatening,” Wallace
said. Terry Sampson, the city’s animal control officer, said the dogs’ owner and a couple of other people who were in the home rushed out and managed to get the dogs away from the girl. He said one of the adults was also bitten and the owner reportedly suffered a muscle strain in the melee. “Not to make any less of it, but it could have been much worse than it was,” he said. Sampson was called to the scene to handle the extremely aggressive dogs. “They weren’t very nice,” he said of the dogs. “The owner wanted the dogs out of the home too. She feared for her safety.” Sampson said he heard that the girl is doing OK after the attack. He
said the woman who owns the dogs was extremely upset. “It’s a scary thing,” he said. “When three dogs get on something, it can be quite devastating for everyone who witnesses it.” The three dogs were so aggressive that they had to be taken to the larger animal shelter in Coupeville where they could be more safety handled. Shari Bibich, the shelter manager for Whidbey Animals’ Improvement Foundation, said the dogs are in a 10-day quarantine period to check for rabies. “The dogs are very reactive and very stressed,” Bibich said. “The shelter is taking extreme precautions to keep the staff safe.” Bibich said the dogs are two unaltered males and a female. She said the owner’s relative identified them
as two pit bulls and a pit bull mix. The woman claimed the female dog, Nana, had been abused by a former owner. The large male, named Tank, is the most aggressive and may have instigated the attack. The other male, Coby, is a young adult and is the calmest --- and friendliest --- of the dogs. The dogs’ future is unclear. The owner could have the dogs euthanized. Otherwise, the animal control officer would likely deem the dogs as “dangerous or potentially dangerous dogs” under the city’s ordinance; that would require the owners to purchase special insurance, keep the dogs in a proper enclosure, put up a sign warning that a dangerous dog is in the area and microchip them.
Wallace said the incident is still under investigation, but the owner of the dogs could possibly face a civil infraction or even a misdemeanor criminal charge for failing to secure the dogs. He said there were no previous problems with the dogs reported to police. The city of Oak Harbor abandoned its pit bull-related ordinance just over two years ago, but it appears unlikely that the controversial breed-specific ordinance would See pit bull, A4