A small town in Missouri is outraged over the senseless killing of a small dog by a police officer, prompting the mayor to resign amid mounting calls to close the police department.
Horrifying bodycam footage captured the moment Teddy, a five-year-old, 13-pound dog, was tragically shot by police officer Myron Woodson in Sturgeon on May 19.
Kevin Abrahamson resigned as mayor after Teddy’s owner, Nicholas Hunter, filed a $1 million lawsuit against the city and Officer Woodson, claiming his Fourteenth Amendment rights had been violated.
During a regularly scheduled City Council meeting on Tuesday, dozens of Sturgeon residents came out to show their support for Teddy, reported The Washington Post.
‘This is your city. If you don’t say something now, you may never be able to change anything,” said a woman with a “Justice for Teddy” in her hand.
Teddy (pictured), a five-year-old, 30-pound dog, was tragically shot by police officer Myron Woodson on May 19 in Sturgeon.
Outraged residents of Sturgeon (pictured) came out to show their support for Teddy during a town hall and called for the police station to be closed
A sign from residents read: ‘We support blue, except Woodson. Fire him!’
“I think you should close it down until you sort out this whole problem with the police,” one man said.
Bodycam footage of the tragic moment begins with Teddy wandering around an open grassy area as Woodson tries to lasso the dogs with a catch pole.
As he tries to catch the dog, Woodson can be heard saying, “Come on, baby.” Come on, baby. There you go.’
Each time he attaches the lasso to Teddy’s neck, the puppy backs away and runs away.
“I’m going to take you to get help,” Woodson tells the dog.
Minutes later, Teddy is seen playing with a rope tied to a tree, while the officer is heard cocking his gun in the background.
Woodson then shoots the disabled dog twice before walking away and interacting with a nearby neighbor.
“I had to send it,” Woodson tells the neighbor.
Bodycam footage of the tragic moment begins with Teddy wandering around an open grassy area as Woodson tries to lasso the dogs with a catch pole
The woman says to the officer, “I do have children here, don’t you think you should warn before you fire a shot?”
Woodson ignores the neighbor’s concerns as he waves her goodbye in his shadow reflected in the grass.
The officer’s bodycam then shows the moment Hunter arrives and confronts Woodson for killing his beloved pet.
‘That’s not how you handle a situation. If a dog poses a threat to a person and harms a person or shows a direct threat, then you use force,” Hunter tells Woodson as he chokes up.
In the video Hunter made, he asked Woodson, “Was my dog a threat to you or anyone else?”
“I see a dog walking around blind – I don’t know if the dog is blind,” Woodson replied.
While reportedly saying he thought Teddy should be put to sleep, Hunter wondered, “So you’re putting him out of his misery?”
‘What should I do?’ Woodson responded, noting that the small Missouri town has no animal control.
“I don’t like shooting dogs,” the officer added.
The city has not fired Woodson, but he is on paid leave while an investigation continues.
Teddy’s owner, Nicholas Hunter, filed a $1 million lawsuit against the city and Officer Woodson, claiming his Fourteenth Amendment rights had been violated.
In its initial statement the day after the shooting, the city of Sturgeon claimed that Woodson believed Teddy was rabid and feared he would be bitten, despite the officer reportedly not making these claims at the scene.
The city admitted that “it was later learned” that Teddy’s behavior stemmed from the fact that he was blind, and that “the animal’s lack of a collar or tags influenced the SPD officer’s decision to euthanize the animal because he thought the animal was injured. sick and forsaken.’
“This whole situation should never have happened, it was handled completely in the wrong way,” said Teddy’s other owner Abbey Harnish.
“In the end, nothing will bring my dog back, but something needs to happen and change, both within the city and within the police department.”
Daniel Kolde, one of the attorneys who filed the lawsuit, said, “We believe Officer Woodson’s actions amount to animal cruelty and, in addition to filing our civil suit, we call on the prosecutor to file his own criminal charges to submit. to this officer.”