Teens Say They Plan to Fight Paying Dog Leash Ticket

ATLANTIC BEACH, FL -- Two Jacksonville teens and the Animal Control Officer that had them arrested Monday tell very different versions of the events that took place on the sand.

"We took off our clothes (over our bathing suits) and we let go of the leash for maybe 20 seconds. Our dogs stayed right beside us, you know? We let go just long enough to take off our clothes." said Whitney Lee.

She said her and her friend, Paola Martin, were swimming in the water, when an Animal Control Officer called them out to cite them for their pups, Kain and Gage, for being off the leash.

"She tried to give us a $30 ticket for not having our dogs on a leash, so I guess she couldn't see from way down there," said Lee.

Atlantic Beach Animal Control Officer Kelley Caton admits she was three or four blocks south of the girls and dogs, but told First Coast News she could clearly see that the dogs were not leashed.

"I did witness the dogs run to the water, back to the beach, to the water, back to the beach several times and both dogs were running around."

Lee and Martin were asked for IDs to be issued $30 citations.

Officer Caton says once she asked for identification, the two 19-year-olds refused to comply. "They became argumentative at that point. I asked several times for their information." she said.

Lee and Martin told Officer Caton their IDs were in their truck. Then one teen provided a name to the officer. "One finally gave me information that turned out to be false," said Caton.

"That's when it started to get a little crazy. We didn't understand what the ticket was for because we had our dogs on the leash the entire time," said Lee.

The girls say at that point, they walked away from the truck, picked up their belongings and walked off the beach, stopping to talk with one local about the leash laws.

"By the time we got back to our truck there was like 3 to 4 officers," said Lee. Office Caton said she called for backup because she felt the girls weren't cooperating.

The teens were arrested for resisting an Animal Control Officer and spent Monday night in jail, retrieving their dogs the next day.

Both young women say they will try to fight paying the $30 fine, and they say they've learned one more thing if they had it all to do over again.

"Not come to Atlantic Beach!"

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