Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
A violent encounter between a dog and a boy sets off legal drama, and tears a neighborhood apart.
Tucked away in a sleepy corner of the sleepy coastal town of Guilford, Connecticut, lies Oxbow Lane. A collection of big houses sitting on indulgent lawns line the quiet street. For the past year and half, it has been especially quiet between two houses next door to each other. Since the incident, there is no longer the sound of a barking dog, and the only communication between the households has either been through legal counsel, or middle-fingers.
One of those houses, a steel-blue split level presiding over a neat row of shrubbery, belongs to Dr. David Young, his wife, and their four children. Dr. Young, an ER physician at St. Vincent’s in Bridgeport, pauses occasionally while he talks, adjusting the Transitions lenses that rest upon his nose.
Dr. Young paces across his property, and takes one of those pauses in the middle of the yard. Here, he says, is where the pool used to be. When he had it taken out, he had given all the stone to his next door neighbors, the ones he no longer speaks to. They had used the stones to build a patio.
This part of the lawn, it happens, is also where the incident took place.
In the driveway of the house directly across the street from the Young household, two boys are playing street hockey. One of the boys, wearing a red flannel jacket, raises his stick, and sends a ball flying towards the garage door, where the other boy is playing goalie. Dr. Young pauses, and indicates the boy in the red flannel shirt across the street. “That’s the kid.”
THE INCIDENT
Early in the afternoon of Aug. 8, 2017, Sean Filley, then 12-years-old, was playing lacrosse in his backyard. After an errant shot, Filley’s ball flew over the fence and into the backyard of the Youngs, who were away on vacation in Cape Cod at the time. Filley, lacrosse stick in hand, trekked into his neighbor’s yard to retrieve his ball.
Filley entered the yard and saw Simon, a mixed-breed part-pitbull belonging to the Young family, playing with the ball. Filley approached, holding his stick aloft. Simon, detecting an unwanted intruder, went after him.
When Filley returned to his own yard seconds later, he was stumbling towards his house with a gaping hole in his left thigh, three inches long, one inch wide, and as deep as Simon’s front teeth.
At 2:00 p.m., Danielle Borrelli, Guilford’s Animal Control Officer, pulled onto Oxbow Lane. Filley sat with his leg wrapped in paper towels. His grandmother, Brenda, brought Borrelli into the house, and demanded that the dog be euthanized immediately. Filley, hearing this, began to chant, “Kill the dog!”
Borrelli called Dr. Young to explain the situation. She told him that in her opinion, it would be best for Simon to come with her to the Guilford Animal Shelter. With Dr. Young’s permission, Borrelli led Simon into her car, and drove him to the shelter, with the understanding that he would be quarantined for a period of 14 days. A year and a half later, Simon remains in the shelter.
On Aug. 14, the Monday after the incident, residents of Oxbow Lane — including the Filleys — gathered in Guilford Town Hall to discuss what had happened. In attendance were several high profile Guilford government officials, including the town attorney, the Chief of Police, and First Selectman Joseph Mazza, who serves as the de facto Chief Executive of the town. Dr. Young, who was invited to attend the meeting, was absent, due to work at the ER.
There are no official minutes of the town hall meeting, but it is summarized in Borrelli’s police report. One by one, the neighbors of Oxbow Lane demanded that Simon be euthanized. The victim’s father presented photos of his son’s injury. Some neighbors said they were scared to walk around the neighborhood when Simon was in the yard. Others, by their own admission, had no personal experience with Simon, but reported that they had heard bad things. All were opposed to Simon returning to Oxbow Lane.
After the neighbors had left, Selectman Mazza and the other town officials met privately with Borrelli. The town attorney expressed fears that returning Simon could be a legal liability for the town, were he to bite someone else in the future. The town officials suggested that a kill-order might be the best path forward.
While Borrelli had noted in earlier reports that she would likely not be delivering a kill-order on Simon, she met with Dr. Young four days after the town hall meeting, informing him that a kill-order was imminent. Though informed of his ability to appeal the decision before the Connecticut Department of Agriculture (DoA), Dr. Young gave his blessing to put Simon down. Borrelli scheduled a euthanization appointment at Guilford Veterinary Hospital for Aug. 23, the following Wednesday.
But that plan would not last long. On the morning of Aug. 21 — ten days after the incident — an email from Dr. Young was waiting in the inbox of Guilford Animal Control, stating, “At the end of the day we strongly feel this decision is unjustified, and is just an attempt by the police to placate loud and objectionable neighbors who have pets themselves. With this in mind and after careful consideration we do plan to appeal this decision.”
THE APPEAL
Eight days after the incident, as he prepared to announce his appeal of the kill-order, Dr. Young hired Thompson Page, an animal rights attorney based in Hartford. Page has devoted his career trying to save dogs on “death row,” like Simon: “I will die sitting at my desk drafting a brief, trying to save a dog.”
Page and Dr. Young believe the kill-order is unjustified for two reasons: property rights, and Simon’s lack of previous offense.
When Dr. Young and his family returned home from Cape Cod, two days after the incident, they discovered that part of the wire fence which divides their property from the Filleys’ had fallen apart. It is their belief that Sean Filley cut through the fence using wire cutters in order to gain access to their backyard.
John Ferranti, a brother-in-law of the Filleys, who spoke on their behalf for this story, vigorously denies that Sean Filley cut through the wire. He calls this allegation “absolutely ludicrous,” adding, “The fence had been in disrepair for years.” The official police report contains no mention of the fence.
But whether or not the fence was cut, Page and Dr. Young remain convinced that Sean Filley passed into the yard without permission and was thus trespassing. Borrelli, in her initial report of the incident, seemed to agree with their position, writing, “…[Filley] did in fact trespass on the dog owner’s yard. I explained that because of this, at this time, we are not going to order Simon be euthanized.”
Normally, the first time a dog bites a human, the dog is quarantined for a brief period, then returned to its owners. Since Simon fits this description, Page and Dr. Young believe the kill-order is evidence of unfairness. Borrelli’s initial report again seems to agree: she responds to Filley’s chant to “kill the dog” by stating that since there was no record of Simon ever previously attacking a human, there would be no kill-order.
However, neighbors of the Young family who testified at the Aug. 14 town hall meeting contend that Simon did in fact previously attack another person.
Some time before the incident, Connecticut State Representative Sean Scanlon, who represents Guilford and neighboring Branford, was going door-to-door on Oxbow Lane while campaigning for reelection. As he approached the Young’s door, Simon came around the corner and chased him out of the yard, biting at his ankles. Dr. Young denies that there was an actual “bite,” but Borrelli cites the “…the history of the dog with another bite of Rep. Sean Scanlon…” as one of the main reasons for Simon’s kill-order. Rep. Scanlon’s office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
But despite Page and Dr. Young’s arguments for why the kill-order should never have been filed against Simon, and Borrelli’s initial inclination not to sign off on it, the kill-order exists. And in their appeal of the kill-order, they are fighting an uphill battle against a centuries-old state law.
According to Connecticut statute 22–358, Animal Control Officers (ACOs) are given discretion to issue a kill-order as they deem “necessary.” Previous case law in Connecticut has never interpreted “necessary” to mean anything less than the ACO’s total discretion. Page thinks this is a huge problem. “We got a law on the books in Connecticut that says, well, if a city employee believes that a dog shouldn’t live, that’s fine, then he can just order it killed. And that’s the law. And it’s allowed.”
In another critique of the law, Page seriously questions the capability of ACOs to fairly rule on a dog’s life. “ACOs are always, have been for centuries, patronage jobs,” he says. “Their brother’s sister’s ex-lover’s cousin’s second aunt’s boyfriend worked at the city and got them a job.”
And so with the current legal interpretation of 22–358, there is almost no chance that Dr. Young will win his appeal at the DoA. Page admits that he fully expects to lose. After that, he will appeal to the Connecticut Superior Court. Those proceedings could take several years. “Overwhelmingly you lose there, too.” Then it’s on to the Appellate Court, which means another few years of proceedings. But Page notes that this is the only path forward. “That’s how I keep the dog alive. If I don’t do what I do, they’ll kill the dog.”
Page and Dr. Young are still waiting for their appeal hearing. The DoA cancelled the initial hearing on Sept. 24, 2018 — over a year after the incident — because Page tried to bring the press and around 75 supporters of Simon and the Young family into the official meeting room in Hartford. A new hearing has yet to be scheduled.
[Page and Dr. Young have since filed a federal lawsuit against the DoA, claiming the DoA’s prohibition of outside observers at the appeal hearing violates First Amendment privileges.]
Besides the appeals process, the only chance for Simon to be released is if the Town of Guilford withdraws the kill-order. The person responsible for making this decision is the Animal Control Officer; it is Page’s belief that since the ACO reports to the Chief of Police, who in turn reports to the First Selectman, it’s ultimately the First Selectman, as Chief Executive, who has the authority to withdraw the order.
In November 2017, three months after the incident, the Town of Guilford elected Matthew Hoey III, a Democrat, as First Selectman, replacing the retiring Republican Joseph Mazza. After the election, Dr. Young wrote a letter to Selectman Hoey, hoping the change in leadership signalled an opportunity to get the kill-order withdrawn.
Dr. Young was disappointed. Selectman Hoey does not believe that it is within his authority to order the ACO to withdraw the order. “I’m a dog owner myself. A long-term dog owner. I’ve had four dogs in my adult life, including one currently that is a rescue,” says Selectman Hoey. “So I am sympathetic to Dr. Young’s family’s position about [their] dog. That doesn’t mean that I am going to change my mind upon the fact that the ACO has the ultimate jurisdiction on this.”
This is an unacceptable excuse for Page and Dr. Young, who believe that the only reason Borrelli signed the kill-order in the first place was due to pressure from higher-ups in the Guilford town government, during the initial private meeting on Aug. 14, 2017.
[Ironically, Borrelli is Simon’s principal caretaker at the Guilford Animal Shelter. According to a friend of the Young family who has visited Simon, in the past year and a half, Simon has grown acclimated to the shelter, and even sees Borrelli as his owner: “He follows her around like she’s his human.”]
So without support from the First Selectman, the task ahead for Page is just to wait. But he is confident that eventually, he will win out, and Simon will be free. “I’ve never lost a dog.” Page boasts. “But I have dogs that live for years in pounds while these towns fight me, because they won’t admit that the law’s fucked up and they shouldn’t have this unfettered power to do whatever the hell they want.”
And despite Selectman Hoey’s statement, Dr. Young remains firm in his commitment to put pressure on the town government. “They’re hoping Simon dies in the pound. They’re hoping this thing goes away. But it’s not gonna go away.”
THE ARMY
While the appeals process stalls, a group of supporters of Simon and the Young family have been waging a war online and in the streets under the collective title, Save Simon.
The Save Simon Facebook page makes posts several times a day. They have helped organize appeals to Gov. Ned Lamont’s office, and have picketed Guilford Town Hall. As of the time of publication, a Change.org petition titled “Save Simon on Death Row,” organized by the group, has almost 25,000 signatures. The petition is addressed to the office of First Selectman Matthew Hoey.
The leader of the group, by popular acclamation, is Coco Ring. Ring is a self-described “feisty, old, crippled lady.” She, like many of the supporters of the Save Simon campaign, found out about Simon’s story over Facebook. Now she attends nearly every Board of Selectmen meeting, acts as an admin of the Save Simon Facebook page, and is the featured voice at most of their protests. Ring takes her job seriously, admitting, “My son-in-law bought me a megaphone for Christmas.” She has visited Simon at the shelter, and has commissioned a portrait of him by an artist-friend of hers.
“Coco Ring” is also not her real name: it’s Cindy Vaporis. Coco was the name of her late dog, a min-pin chihuahua that died of pancreatic cancer a few years ago. Ring was her mother’s maiden name.
Save Simon has also taken up the task of getting public support all throughout Coastal Connecticut. Spelled out in big block letters on a poster, which Ring says she has posted in Guilford, Branford, and East Haven, is written “Please Help Us To Save Simon & Your Beloved Dogs From Connecticut’s cold-hearted politicians. Don’t Let Guilford Destroy Another Family.” The phone number for Selectman Hoey’s office appears at the bottom.
After a member of the Save Simon campaign filed Freedom of Information Act (FOI) requests through the town clerk, it was revealed that the Town of Guilford, as of September 2018, has spent over $35,000 on legal fees dealing with the Young appeal. This number appears on Ring’s Save Simon poster as part of their argument: “DID YOU KNOW: Guilford has wasted more than $35,000 of your tax dollars on lawyers to keep Simon the dog, a beloved family pet, locked up.” Selectman Hoey confirmed that this number is correct, but responds, “In my mind, the $35,000 that we have spent at this point is a matter of public safety. You tell me how much we should spend on public safety.”
In the battle over public opinion, another of Save Simon’s main lines of attack has been painting the Filley family and their allies as “well-connected” in the Town of Guilford, with enough political clout to influence the Board of Selectmen’s decision to sign Simon’s kill-order. One Facebook post reads, “Simon has not had a fair chance and is a victim of a conspiracy, and because this kid’s family has connections, now Simon has to die.” Ferranti, the Filleys’ brother-in-law, derides this allegation as part of Save Simon’s “horrible, horrible misinformation campaign…What connections? Dave [Filley, the victim’s father] was a drop-out in high school, he went back to school. Robin [Filley, the victim’s mother] is an LPN [Licensed Practical Nurse]. They don’t have connections. They don’t have any money.”
Ferranti believes that the allegation is better directed at Dr. Young himself, citing Dr. Young’s hire of a New York-based publicist named Mark Goldman in June 2018 to represent him in media matters. While Save Simon frequently appears in the Hartford Courant and Guilford Courier, the Filley family rarely engages with the media. Ferranti bemoans, “They got six kids, two in college. They can’t hire a PR firm.’
Dr. Young finds nothing wrong with retaining a publicist, explaining “I’m only one person. I work two jobs.” Dr. Young is only one person. But he also has, in the form of Save Simon, a media machine that is happy to work for free.
THE FUNDRAISER
This past Sunday, outside Frisco’s Pizza on the eastern end of New Haven, a crowd is huddled on the curb. They shout at cars driving by on U.S. Highway 1, and the cars honk back, showing their support. Some of them pull over, and throw cash into an orange bucket. It’s freezing. To stay warm, someone in the crowd passes out shooters of Fireball whiskey. A few brandish Foxon Parks or cigarettes. Nearly all hold signs showing a dog with coffee-colored fur and emblazoned with the words, “Save Simon.”
At the first Save Simon fundraiser, Coco Ring, megaphone in hand, is running the show. Outside, she’s selling t-shirts and small painted stones. Inside of Frisco’s, she gives instructions to her fellow Save Simon organizers who are running the donation table. Money is flowing in from several sources: besides the bucket on the street, and the t-shirt sales outside, John Frisco, the owner, has promised all of the day’s profits to the campaign. There are even people calling in to make donations by phone. The money, Ring clarifies to a few patrons, is not going to legal fees, but to “awareness,” in the form of either a full page ad in the Guilford Courier, or a billboard. One of the women at the donation table agrees: “We want that big, digital billboard,” she says. “Over a highway, or something,” adds another.
In their small conversations out by the curb, or around the donation table, the supporters of Save Simon are reviewing the facts of the case on an endless loop. They correct each other on small details and dates, or propose legal justifications based on carefully-cited Connecticut statutory law. In their retelling of the story, they negotiate on who the villain should be: is it the police chief, or the Filley family? Sometimes it is the whole neighborhood. Sometimes it is the boy. But by and large, the most popular target is First Selectman Matthew Hoey. In everyone’s minds, Hoey is the only reason why Simon is still in the shelter.
“I can’t believe I voted for him,” one supporter says by the side of the road. Another supporter turns to her, sharing the sentiment: “I did too! I’m a Democrat, but I didn’t know he was a scumbag. There’s no chance he gets reelected.”
Justin Daley is a marine-archaeologist who grew up in Guilford. He just finished his dissertation on “The Impact of Capitalism on the Minority Representation in the Yankee Whaling Industry.” He tells the other supporters on the curb, “I told Matt Hoey I wanted to dump a cup of coffee on his head to wake him up, and he called the police on me.” Hoey will be up for reelection in the Fall of 2021.
Dr. Young moves through the pizzeria, shaking hands with supporters, and answering their questions. For many in Save Simon, Dr. Young’s case is about much more than a dog. It is about private property: the right to one’s own dog and one’s own backyard. There is a hint of fear in all their voices. But they are also unapologetic. Daley tells a passerby outside, “In my eyes, the dog is a hero.”
The woman behind the donation table puts it more strongly: “Come in my yard, and you’re getting bit. That’s the way a dog protects its property.”
