Ventura – The truth of the adage that “a dog is man’s best friend” applies in varying degrees, it seems, depending upon who the “man” is. In the case of Joseph Ojida, a 53-year old Ventura resident, following the events that transpired late in the evening hours of September 14th, he most certainly is not likely to appear at the next meeting of the local kennel club.
It was nearly midnight on the evening in question when the Ventura Police Department Command Center received a 911 Emergency call reporting a violent encounter between a man and a woman at a local area hotel. According to the report submitted to the media by the VPD Public Affairs office, the first patrol unit to arrive at the scene of the reported disturbance was in fact one of the police department’s more robust K-9 “officers”. Both the K-9 “officer” and his uniformed and sworn partner observed Ojida in the process of “physically assaulting a female in the hallway of the hotel” with the use of a rope bearing a metal object on one end.
When the officer ordered Ojida to drop the rope and cease his assault, Ojida made a mistake that he undoubtedly regretted all the way to the hospital, and “refused to comply” with the officer’s multiple verbal commands. At that point, given the green light by his handler, the K-9 “officer” did what extensive training had prepared him for, and within seconds he had Ojida subdued, bleeding, and in custody.
Subsequent investigation determined that Ojida had entered the female victim’s hotel room against her will and had initiated a threatening verbal discourse. When the female attempted to escort him out of her room, Ojida refused to exit and began swinging the metal-tipped rope at her in a menacing fashion. While she avoided being struck by the metal object arcing toward her, the female did sustain minor injuries in the altercation and was treated for them at the scene.
For his part, Ojida was arrested and then given what can only be imagined as a painfully slow ride to the hospital for “injuries he sustained from the K-9 deployment.” Once he was stitched up, Ojida was transported to Ventura County Jail and booked on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and resisting arrest.
Read more:
VCSTAR: Ventura man accused of assault
Before Its News: Man arrested for assaulting woman
