Unhoused couple mourns loss of their dog, allegedly run over by a police officer

On the morning of Dec. 7, Sally Beall and Rocky Denwell were sleeping under the overpass that leads to Deer Creek Park in Roseburg.

Beall is 69 and Denwell is 68. They’ve been married for over 30 years and have been living on the street since February. They survive on social security checks, but it’s not enough money for them to find a place to stay.

They spent the night under the overpass because the week prior, on Dec. 1, Beall and Denwell said the Roseburg Police Department conducted a sweep in Deer Creek Park, taking Beall and Denwell’s tent, heating supplies and bedding. The two stayed in a motel for a few days, but by Dec. 6, it had gotten too expensive to keep sleeping there. Without a tent, they had to sleep under the overpass using a couple of blankets they were able to buy at a local discount store.

Later that day, around 3 p.m. on Dec. 7, Beall was walking back from Dollar General after buying food for her dogs and cats. The two had numerous pets — a 14-year-old dog named Rosie Mae Mae, a 9-month-old puppy named Windsor, a white cat named Snowman and more.

Rocky Denwell said he was asleep along a fence under the overpass that leads to Deer Creek Park, a common area for unhoused people to congregate. His dog, Rosie, was secured to the fence with a leash and slept less than a foot to his side.

While walking home, Beall got a call from Denwell.

“I could hear the panic in his voice,” Beall said. “I had to get back.”

While Beall was away and Denwell was asleep, an officer with the Roseburg Police Department had allegedly run over Rosie, Beall and Denwell’s dog, stopping briefly on her body before backing up off of it. Beall said she ran all the way back to the overpass.

Robert Gerber, another unhoused person staying under the overpass that afternoon, said he saw the incident happen.

“We were coming down the road here, and here comes a cop,” Gerber said. “I was waiting by the side, and just as he passed, I said ‘woah, woah, woah.’ I went over to the fence behind his vehicle to look and he was right on top of her. It [the vehicle] had stopped right on top of her. I was like, ‘Oh, [expletive], you hit the dog.’ Then he gets out, looks, gets back in and backs off the dog.”

Daniel Allen, the public information officer at the Roseburg Police Department, said the department is conducting its own internal investigation about the incident. He declined to make any additional comment until their investigation is complete.

“We had her body all night,” Beall said tearfully. “We wrapped him up in those blankets that we bought. He [Denwell] put her in a shopping cart and put a cross on him.”

Beall said the Roseburg Police Department offered to pay for the dog’s cremation, which happened the following day at the Roseburg Pet Crematorium. Beall and Denwell also said that Roseburg chief of police Gary Klopfenstein apologized to them after the incident.

“He was trying to get me to feel sorry for the officer who hit him,” Beall said. “We’re not saying he did it on purpose, but we’re upset. Our dog got killed. And all he talked about was how upset and shaken up the officer was.”

The Roseburg Police Department said Klopfenstein was unavailable for an interview.

Beall, Denwell and Gerber all said that their experiences living on the street have been difficult due to treatment by police and community members.

“The police are supposed to be here to protect and serve, right?” Gerber said. “I don’t feel safe in a city with the cops that do [expletive] like this.”

Beall said that people in Roseburg will cross the street to avoid her if they’re walking on the same sidewalk, and recalled one encounter when a man walking with his son through the park told the child that “these homeless people are the worst type of people you will ever see.”

“Not all of the homeless are drug addicts,” Beall said. “I am so tired of being stereotyped as a drug addict because we’re homeless. That’s not our situation, we don’t want to be homeless.”

Beall and Denwell hope to eventually leave Roseburg and travel to Washington to see their grandchildren. Right now, however, without money or transportation, they don’t have a way of getting there.

For the time being, they are still mourning the loss of Rosie. At one point while talking about the incident, Denwell, who is hard of hearing and seldom talked, was overcome with emotion, and briefly left to compose himself.

“That was his girl, you know,” Beall said. “He had her heart.”