UPDATE: July 2, 2012
At their May 17th court date, Ione Cutter and Lisa Trent had the charges against them dropped by Placer County Deputy District Attorney Bill Doyle.
“We reviewed the police reports, and talked to Lisa,” said Doyle. “There was insufficient evidence to proceed, so we declined to prosecute.”
Doyle admits that the outcome may not satisfy both parties.
“There are rules we live by. Not everybody will always be happy with the results,” he said. “We have to ask, ‘Is there enough evidence to bring to the jury?’ We decided not to prosecute.”
Trent, who was pepper sprayed along with her two dogs, still faces a ticket from Placer County Animal Services for having her dogs off-leash.
Cutter, the pepper-spraying jogger, wrote to Moonshine Ink in an email: “I hope to go back to running in peace.”
ORIGINAL STORY: April 25, 2012
In early April, Ione Cutter was jogging in Alpine Meadows, where she owns a second home, when a large Rottweiler came running out in the street toward her. Scared, she pulled out the canister of pepper spray that she carries with her on her marathon training runs in case of aggressive dogs or bears. When another Rottweiler and a pit bull came at her, she said she flipped the switch and sprayed the air in front of the dogs.
What happened next is where the story gets controversial. The Rottweilers’ owner, Lisa Trent, confronted Cutter. By the time the encounter was over, Trent had been sprayed in the face with pepper spray, both women had called the police, and both pressed charges against the other.
After the UC Davis pepper spraying incident in November, where photos and video of a campus policeman spraying seated Occupy protestors in the face went viral, the orange liquid has made headlines. The event led to the resignation of UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza this month, as well as the release of a report by a task force headed by a former California Supreme Court justice, which found that pepper spray was used unlawfully against the UC Davis demonstrators.
But pepper spraying in Tahoe?
After spraying the dogs, Cutter said she continued jogging when a large Dodge truck came barreling after her forcing her, into a snow bank. According to Cutter, Trent got out of the car and started screaming at her for spraying her dogs.
“She lost it. She was unreasonable. She was beet-red and jumped out of the truck,” said Cutter. “‘I was so afraid of her.”
So Cutter sprayed Trent with the pepper spray.
“I did not mean to hurt this woman,” said Cutter, 50, who is a dog owner and mother of two in Sacramento. “If she hadn’t come at me … I was afraid she was going to chase me in her truck.”
Trent’s side of the story is a little different. She said that after her daughter came running into the house, screaming that a jogger had sprayed their eight-month-old Rottweiler Daisy with something, she jumped in her truck to find the runner and learn why her dog had been sprayed. According to Trent, she wanted to know what was in the pepper spray and wanted to write down Cutter’s contact information. As she opened the car door to reach for a pen and paper, Trent said that’s when Cutter sprayed her. Trent then ran to a neighbor’s house and the neighbor called the police. After she returned home, she took a shower, where the pepper spray fumes made her vomit and she had difficulty breathing. She got scared and called 911, but the medics did not transport her to the hospital.
“I am appalled that a woman would spray my dogs,” said Trent, 37, a mother of four. “She violated me. What if it had been a gun or a bat or a Taser?”
Cutter also called the police and both women made a citizen’s arrest against the other. Trent is pressing charges of assault and battery, while Cutter is pressing charges of assault with a vehicle. Placer County Animal Services was called to the scene and ticketed Trent for having her dogs at large. Placer County law requires that dogs be on a leash or under the direct control of their owner at all times. Trent will have to go to court, where she could be fined up to $150.
Captain Jeff Ausnow of the Placer County Sheriff’s Department said that, while uncommon, people do get pepper sprayed in Tahoe on occasion. The most common incident, however, are animals getting sprayed.
“We’ve had joggers spray dogs all the time,” he said.
In California, anyone over the age of 18 and not a convicted felon can possess pepper spray — a chemical that irritates the eyes and causes inflammation, tears, and even temporary blindness. Misuse of the spray, which includes using it in anger or as a joke, come with fines of up to $1000 and/or up to three years in prison.
Ausnow said the issue is not whether Cutter had the right to spray the dogs — they were off leash and she felt threatened — but whether she had the right to spray Trent.
“If she was scared it’s understandable,” Ausnow said of Cutter using the spray on the dogs. “To determine if spraying Lisa was reasonable that will be up to a judge.”
The two women go to court on May 17.
