Perps in DC shootout & California neglect case each had 30-odd pit bulls

Stephen Claude Rattigan was apparently a breeder;  Linda Vaccarezza ran Pitty-Pop Pit Bull Rescue

WASHINGTON D.C.;  NEVADA CITY,  California––Stephen Claude Rattigan,  48,  surrendered to Washington D.C. police after a Valentine’s Day shootout followed by a 13-hour standoff.

Pitty-Pop Pit Bull Rescue founder Linda Vaccarezza,  70,  was a day later convicted after a three-day trial in Nevada City,  California,  of misdemeanor animal cruelty and operating a kennel without a permit.

Rattigan was found in possession of 31 allegedly neglected pit bulls,  eleven of them puppies.

Vaccarezza,  a former court reporter,  allegedly had 35 neglected pit bulls,  plus 11 chickens.

What else Rattigan and Vaccarezza might have in common may take psychological investigation to discover.

Rattigan held for mental evaluation

Superior Court Magistrate Judge Renee Raymond reportedly ordered that Rattigan,  who initially claimed to be “Julius James,”  be held without bail,  pending a mental evaluation before a preliminary hearing scheduled for February 29, 2024 before District of Columbia Superior Court Judge Maribeth Raffinan.

“On February 14,  2024,”  summarized a U.S. Department of Justice media release,  “officers from the Metropolitan Police Department responded to Rattigan’s residence to execute an arrest warrant because of a complaint of animal cruelty.

“That warrant stemmed from an incident in April 2023 in which Rattigan was captured by a security camera beating one of his dogs several times in the face.

“Inhumane living conditions”

“On January 12,  2024,  an animal control investigator [from the Washington D.C. Humane Rescue Alliance] visited the residence to address the issue of the number of animals on the property and the need for a permit,”  the Department of Justice media release continued.

“Previously,  on January 8,  2024,”  the Department of Justice media release said,  “a humane society officer visited Rattigan’s residence to address the issue of inhumane living conditions for the animals,  based on complaints received.”

NBC Universal News 4 reporters Mark Segraves,  Juliana Valencia, and Sophia Barnes on February 15,  2024 broadcast a security camera video showing,  they said,  why the arrest warrant was issued.

“Police initially went to Rattigan’s home,”  the NBC News 4 team recounted,  “after an officer investigated a neighbor’s complaint in January.  When the officer went to the home,  it smelled of urine and feces,  the officer wrote in the documents.

“The concerned neighbor showed the officer a video that led to the animal abuse charge.

Pit bulls menaced two-year-old

“In court documents,  the officer said the video shows two of the dogs approaching a child ‘in an excited and friendly manner,’  and an adult calmly picking up the child.”

ANIMALS 24-7,  having repeatedly viewed the video,  strongly disagrees with that assessment.

Two large pit bulls rushed the little girl,  a toddler,  from behind in an aggressive and  menacing manner.

            (See the video here:  https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/hanna-place-shooting-animal-cruelty-suspect-dc-officers-shot-dogs/3544633/.)

An adult man,  who if in possession of a gun would have been entirely justified in shooting both pit bulls to keep them from the girl,  instead tried to stay between the girl and the pit bulls,  while hurrying the girl away.

Toddler was cornered

Evading the adult,  the two pit bulls,  each probably outweighing the girl,  cornered the girl against a low chain link fence.

The adult man reached over the pit bulls and lifted the girl up,  starting to put her down on the far side of the chain link fence before a man identified as Rattigan ran into the picture and began hitting the pit bulls to try to drive them away from the girl.

According to the NBC News 4 team,  quoting from the police officer’s report,  “The suspect ‘then enters the picture… and approaches one of the dogs,  grabbing it and pulling it away from [the adult] and child.  The dog stays,  cowering from [the suspect]. [The suspect] then proceeded to punch the dog in the face six times,  causing the dog to yelp each time,’  the officer wrote.

“A second dog nearby was not involved in the incident,  the documents said.”

Arrest warrant should have been for allowing the pit bulls to run at large

ANIMALS 24-7 observed that Rattigan apparently continued hitting one of the two pit bulls because the pit bull continued trying to approach the girl and the adult.  He stopped when the pit bull finally ran back the way both pit bulls and Rattigan had come.

The second pit bull,  while quicker to retreat,  was most definitely involved in cornering and menacing the girl.

There was no “cruelty” involved.  If an arrest warrant was issued,  it should have been for allowing the two pit bulls to run at large,  and/or for alleged neglect of the pit bulls at Rattigan’s home.

Incident already had consequences

The April 2023 incident had already had consequences for Rattigan.

Reported Lili Zheng for Fox 5,  WTTG,  “A court document filed with the D.C. Superior Court on January 17,  2024 shows that the landlord was attempting to evict [Rattigan] after he ‘failed to correct [a] violation.’  That violation,  the documents show,  was keeping possession of two dogs that the landlord claimed attacked a 2-year-old in April 2023,”  as shown in the video.

The landlord had reportedly ordered Rattigan to “get rid of the dogs by May 31,  2023,  or vacate.”

Tammy Alexander,  “who lives two doors down from the suspect,”  the NBC News 4 team said,  acknowledged that neighbors “kind of feared the dogs.”

Shooting started when sergeant grabbed a fire extinguisher

On Valentine’s Day morning,  reported Alanea Cremen for WUSA-TV in Washington D.C.,  “Upon knocking on the door,  officers reportedly announced who they were before using their patrol vehicles’ loudspeakers to make multiple announcements to Rattigan.  After spotting a man matching Rattigan’s description through a window,  officers decided to use a breaching tool to get inside.

“Just after 8 a.m.,  officers partially opened the front door but were stopped by several aggressive dogs and a sergeant grabbed a fire extinguisher, which can be used to pacify aggressive animals.  Court documents say this is when gunfire was heard coming from inside the home.

“Three officers were hit by the gunfire as it came through the closed door.  All three officers were hit in their lower left legs.  One officer was also grazed by a bullet to his left arm,  and another sustained bruising on his chest and back as the bullets hit his ballistic vest.”

Rattigan called cops himself

Immediately after the shooting,  Rattigan called a police officer acquaintance to report having “fired warning shots at someone who was trying to get into his house.  If they were there to get his dogs,  they would have to kill him,  he said,”  according to both NBC News 4 and Fox 5.

“Rattigan fired additional shots during the standoff because he was agitated as he waited for negotiators to bring him cigarettes,  police said.  Bullets hit a response truck and a neighbor’s Lexus,”  NBC News 4 continued.

Police said they found a disassembled Glock handgun on Rattigan’s bed immediately after his arrest,  and an arsenal of other weapons later.

Icylin Rattigan,  mother of Stephen Rattigan,  told Shomari Stone of Fox 5 Stephen Rattigan “suffers from a mental illness and heard voices in his head.

Added Stone,  “She doesn’t know why he was living with 31 dogs.”

Pitty-Pop Pit Bull Rescue was under investigation for more than two years

While the Rattigan case drew saturation coverage in the Washington D.C. area,  the Vaccarezza case,  ending with her conviction on February 15,  2024,  received little more than a Nevada County Sheriff’s Office media release.

Vaccarezza,  founder of Pitty-Pop Pit Bull Rescue,  in Grass Valley,  California,  “was investigated by Nevada County Sheriff’s Office animal control officers for animal neglect charges for more than two years,”  the media release said.

“Despite efforts to help Vaccarezza bring [Pitty-Pop Pit Bull Rescue] into compliancy,  animal control officers ultimately rescued a total of 35 dogs and puppies for their safety and livelihood,”  the media release continued.

“The investigation gained momentum back in March 2023 following a tip regarding endangered animals in a barn on the property.   A search of the barn resulted in 11 chickens and six dogs being seized.  An attempt to inspect the main home on the property that same day to conduct welfare checks on additional animals was denied by a male on the property.

Settlement from San Francisco police department

“The Sheriff’s Office subsequently secured a search warrant, which was executed in April 2023 with additional dogs seized.

“Vaccarezza will be formally sentenced on March 18, 2024,  at 9:30 a.m. at the Nevada County Superior Court,”  the release finished.

Vaccarezza,  a frequent donor to online appeals on behalf of pit bull rescues,  apparently formed her own Pitty-Pop Pit Bull Rescue with some of an $835,000 settlement received from the San Francisco police department after a police officer broke her forearm with a baton during a protest against the March 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

The incident was documented on video.  The video demonstrated that the police officer significantly misrepresented the circumstances in his written report,  filed afterward.

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