A North Portland man who stepped outside to ask his neighbors to quiet their barking dogs ended up bloodied and bitten, while a witness was allegedly pepper-sprayed, according to court documents detailing a July attack that led to an arrest nearly four months later. Rusty Shane Sturgill, 39, was taken into custody on Monday at Dawson Park and arraigned the next day on charges of second-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon, and unlawful use of a stun gun, tear gas or mace.
Court documents say the alleged victim had heard two dogs barking outside his home for hours on July 17 before going outside to ask the owners to quiet them, according to KATU. He told investigators the dogs then ran off leash toward him and attacked, and that a man repeatedly struck him in the head with a metal water bottle. Prosecutors allege the man attacked the victim and sicced his dog on him after the victim complained about the barking.
Witness Describes Beating and Pepper Spray
A witness told police that a man and a woman repeatedly punched and kicked the alleged victim during the confrontation. The same witness said the man pepper-sprayed her in the face when she tried to intervene to help him, per the account given to police.
When officers responded to reports of an assault and dog bite in North Portland that day, they found a man with bandages and blood on his face, arm and shirt in the 4000 block of North Colonial Avenue. Sturgill has offered his own version of events, telling investigators, per court documents, that the alleged victim had grabbed his dog's leash and kicked the pit bull.
Months Passed Before Arrest
Sturgill was not arrested the day of the incident. The report notes that the alleged victim and a witness were reinterviewed before his arrest, and that court documents cited the original incident report as lacking a complete transcription — details that help explain the roughly four-month gap between the July confrontation and Sturgill's November arrest.
He now remains lodged in the Multnomah County Jail, held not only on the new charges but also on outstanding warrants and a parole violation tied to several other cases, the station's report states. Sturgill has prior Multnomah County convictions for first-degree burglary in 2008, aggravated harassment in 2015 and unlawful possession of methamphetamine in 2020, along with a separate aggravated-harassment conviction out of Clatsop County in 2020. It was unclear whether a female suspect in the case had been charged.
A Recent, More Severe Portland Dog Case
The case adds to a string of dog-related violence in Portland that has drawn scrutiny this year. In a separate and far more severe incident from July 2024, five dogs owned by Alexandria Marie Hendon mauled Mytoka Petry at a North Portland homeless encampment, according to oregonlive.com, leaving Petry without her left arm.
Hendon pleaded guilty last month to three charges of maintaining a dangerous dog and was sentenced on Oct. 22 to six months in jail and three years of probation, per the same report. A judge ordered her to complete 180 hours of community service at an animal shelter, finish a pet-ownership class, and avoid possessing domestic animals while on probation; the dogs involved in that attack were euthanized. A second woman, Cierra Graham, identified herself as the owner of the other three dogs in that case and was set to stand trial this month.
