Extremely disturbing police bodycam video shows the moment that a cop shot and killed a “non-aggressive” deaf and blind 13-pound dog.
On Tuesday morning, a Sturgeon Police Department officer responded to a report of a missing dog.
Nick Hunter, 35, reported his fluffy, 13-pound white Shih Tzu mix missing. Most concerning for the owner, is that the 5-year-old dog was deaf and blind. Hunter reportedly informed the dispatcher that the dog was “not at all” aggressive.
Sturgeon Police Department Officer Myron Woodson reportedly responded to the missing dog report.
Within minutes of attempting to locate the disabled dog, Officer Woodson reportedly fired two shots into the 13-pound pup.
Officer Woodson located the small Shih Tzu dog.
Bodycam footage shows Woodson approaching the small dog, and he is armed with a catch pole.
According to bodycam footage, the dog named Teddy is seen aimlessly trotting around. The officer is seen attempting to lasso the distressed dog, but is unsuccessful. The dog continues to walk randomly around the grass yard.
The dog is seen on video playing with a vine on a tree.
Suddenly out of nowhere, the officer is seen shooting the dog only three minutes after encountering the small dog without the animal being aggressive toward the cop.
Police bodycam video shows the officer shooting the dog at the 5:35 mark and firing another shot at the 5:41 mark.
Bodycam footage shows the officer walking back to his cruiser to retrieve a bin, walking back to the scene of the death, and putting the lifeless body of the dog into the receptacle. He places the bin with the deceased animal in the back of his cruiser.
The owner of the slain dog – a very distraught Nick Hunter – is seen confronting the police officer before he can drive away. According to the video, he is recording the officer as he questions him.
Hunter tells the officer that his dog was “completely blind and completely deaf.”
Officer Woodson attempts to defend his fatal actions by saying that he saw a “dog walking around blindly,” and he only can respond to situations with “information at hand” and claimed he had spent 10 minutes dealing with a dog that was “walking around blindly.”
Woodson claims that he doesn’t “enjoy shooting dogs.”
“I’m not happy that I had to shoot a dog,” Woodson says on video.
Hunter informs the officer that there are numerous non-lethal alternatives to making a dog respond.
Woodson states, “I’m sorry I had to do it. That’s all I’m saying.”
Hunter declares, “I can handle a dog dying if the dog was put down for a proper reason.”
He adds, “He was not aggressive to a person, and not a harm to anyone.”
Hunter accuses the officer of not attempting “to do anything properly besides lethal force.”
The dog owner claims the dog escaped from its kennel after its collar slipped off.
The city of Sturgeon defended Officer Woodson’s fatal actions with a statement that reads:
The city has reviewed the dispatch report and body camera footage regarding the recent dog at large incident. The city believes that the officer acted within his authority based on the information available to him at the time to protect against possible injury to citizens from what appeared to be an injured, sick, and abandoned dog. The dispatch indicated that the person calling in did not want to be contacted, and had reported that the dog, though not in her view dangerous, was injured, maybe blind, and had mud and dried blood in its fur. The dog’s strange behavior appeared consistent with the dispatch report of an injured or possibly sick dog. In order to better equip officers for future animal at large call outs, the city will be sending all officers to Boone County Animal Control for training and education, in hopes that this unfortunate situation does not occur again.
Hunter told KMIZ, “I filed a complaint formally with the city of Sturgeon and requested to speak with the mayor. The mayor did not contact me, instead posted a statement contradicting everything that me and the officer spoke of, saying the officer’s fear was Teddy having rabies.”
Hunter proclaimed that his dog was updated on its rabies vaccines.
“The officer was going strictly based off the fact that the dog walks with his head sideways due to him being deaf and blind,” Hunter alleged.
He added, “I’m hoping these officers and future officers can find a way to follow the the fourth continuum, our levels, correctly versus going straight to lethal force. That should always be a last resort in dealing with any life.”
Hunter told the news outlet that he plans on suing the city of Sturgeon over the shooting death of his dog.
(WARNING: The following police bodycam video is extremely disturbing and graphic)
Bodycam video shows Sturgeon dog shootingwww.youtube.com
