Police: Zoo survivor told of standing on railing and yelling at tiger

Paul Dhaliwal (right) one of the two brothers injured in the tiger attack, leaves the funeral service for 17-year-old Carlos Sousa, Jr. in San Jose, Calif. on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008. Sousa was killed in the Christmas Day tiger attack at the San Francisco Zoo. PAUL CHINN/The Chronicle **Paul Dhaliwal Ran on: 01-12-2008 Paul Dhaliwal Ran on: 01-12-2008 MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOGRAPHER AND S.F. CHRONICLE/NO SALES - MAGS OUT less Paul Dhaliwal (right) one of the two brothers injured in the tiger attack, leaves the funeral service for 17-year-old Carlos Sousa, Jr. in San Jose, Calif. on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008. Sousa was killed in the ... more Photo: PAUL CHINN Photo: PAUL CHINN Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Police: Zoo survivor told of standing on railing and yelling at tiger 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

One of the two survivors of the San Francisco Zoo tiger attack that left a 17-year-old fatally mauled told the victim's father that the three had yelled and waved at the animal while standing atop the railing of the tiger's enclosure, police said in court documents filed Thursday.

Paul Dhaliwal, 19, denied throwing anything into the enclosure or otherwise antagonizing the animal, according to an account contained in police investigators' request for a search warrant in connection with the Christmas Day attack that killed Carlos Sousa Jr. of San Jose.

Police armed with the warrant and seeking evidence that the men had taunted the tiger searched the 2002 BMW belonging to Dhaliwal's 23-year-old brother, Kulbir, on Wednesday. They also reviewed the brothers' cell phones for any photos they might have taken before the tiger attacked.

Police said they had recovered messages and images, but apparently nothing incriminating in connection with the tiger attack. Investigators seized a small amount of marijuana as well as a partially filled bottle of Grey Goose vodka from the car, according to the inventory that police submitted from the search.

They also found a kit commonly used to defeat drug testing, which included a vial of unisex synthetic urine, police said. Paul Dhaliwal was on probation stemming from a drunken driving incident and crash that occurred before the attack.

The search warrant affidavit was prepared Tuesday by police Inspector Valerie Matthews, the lead investigator in the case, and was filed with the court late Thursday. It cites multiple reports of a group of young men taunting animals at the zoo as basis for a court to grant police the right to search the cell phones and BMW, where police said they had seen the partially full bottle vodka bottle in the front passenger seat.

Both Dhaliwal brothers were hospitalized after the maulings with head wounds. Matthews said in the warrant application that Paul Dhaliwal's blood alcohol level had been measured after the attack at 0.16 percent, twice the legal level for drunkenness. She did not indicate exactly when the test had been conducted.

Kulbir Dhaliwal's blood alcohol level was 0.04 percent, and Sousa's was 0.02 percent, Matthews said.

All three also had marijuana in their systems, Matthews said. The drug can stay in blood for several days, but Kulbir Dhaliwal told police that the three had smoked marijuana and had each had "a couple shots of vodka" Christmas Day before leaving the brothers' home in San Jose, the affidavit said.

Sousa's father, Carlos Sousa Sr., is quoted in the affidavit as saying he spoke by telephone with Paul Dhaliwal after the attack. Sousa Sr. declined to comment Thursday.

According to Sousa's account to police, Dhaliwal told him that he, his brother and the younger Sousa had been "waving their hands and yelling at the tiger" just before the animal pounced up a 12 1/2-foot wall from its dry moat and attacked them.

Paul Dhaliwal - referred to in affidavit by his formal name, Amritpal - "said the three of them were standing on the railing looking at the tiger," Sousa told police.

The 3-foot-tall metal railing is a few feet from the edge of the tiger moat.

Dhaliwal told Sousa that "when they got down they heard a noise in the bushes, and the tiger was jumping out of the bushes on him (Paul Dhaliwal)," the affidavit said.

"Sousa Sr. said he asked Amritpal Dhaliwal if they were dangling their legs, or throwing things taunting the tiger," the affidavit said. "Sousa Sr. said Amritpal Dhaliwal said they did not."

Matthews said police had found a partial shoe print on top of the railing and concluded that it matched a shoe worn by Paul Dhaliwal.

"This shoe print is a possible indication of Amritpal Dhaliwal standing on the railing to photo, taunt, view or tease the tiger," Matthews said in the affidavit.

Earlier this month, the younger Sousa's mother, Marilza Sousa, said in an interview that Paul Dhaliwal had told her, "We didn't do nothing. We were just normal kids in the zoo."

She added, "That's what happened - just dancing, talking, laughing like normal kids."

It is unclear what Dhaliwal told police, as there is no summary of his account in the search warrant affidavit. Police have said they interviewed both brothers.

Paul Dhaliwal was apparently reluctant to talk immediately after the attack, according to Matthews' affidavit.

One of the paramedics who rode with him in an ambulance to San Francisco General Hospital told police she had tried to interview him but that he had said only, "I don't want anyone to know," Matthews wrote.

When the unidentified paramedic persisted, Dhaliwal told her to "just shut up," the affidavit said.

Paul also denied having a cell phone after first asking the paramedic if she wanted his phone number and laughing, the affidavit said.

The Dhaliwal brothers have hired an attorney, Mark Geragos, who did not return a call Thursday.

Last week, the San Francisco city attorney referred to the police investigation of the attack as inactive. The police search indicates that investigators believe the young men taunted the tiger, a misdemeanor. In seeking the warrant, police said they were investigating whether an unspecified felony had been committed.

"As a result of this investigation, (police believe) that the tiger may have been taunted/agitated by its eventual victims," Matthews wrote in the affidavit. Police believe that "this factor contributed to the tiger escaping from its enclosure and attacking its victims," she said.

An autopsy conducted by a zoo veterinarian on the Siberian tiger after police shot it to death showed that the animal had been "very determined to get out," Matthews said. Its claws were broken and splintered by clambering up the concrete moat wall, Matthews quoted the veterinarian as saying.

"This behavior may be consistent with a tiger that has been agitated and/or taunted," Matthews said.

Police found a pine cone and a tree branch in the tiger's outdoor grotto when they searched it soon after the attack, but Matthews said investigators could not determine how long those items had been there, "since (Zoo Operations Director Jesse Vargas) told me that they could not answer any questions regarding the tiger and/or the tiger exhibit per their attorney's request."

Sam Singer, a spokesman for the zoo, has said Vargas merely wanted to have attorneys present during any questioning related to the tiger attack. He denied that Vargas or any other zoo official had refused to cooperate with police.