A terrifying new video shows the moment a Missouri police officer shot and killed a blind and deaf Shih Tzu mix after he was called to help the pup find its owner.
Teddy, a five-year-old, 13-pound dog, was tragically shot and killed by police officer Myron Woodson in Sturgeon, about two hours from Kansas City, on Sunday.
Woodson had reportedly been called to the scene to help the dog after it became lost, and initially told the puppy’s owner, Nicholas Hunter, that he believed the dog was an injured stray that needed to be put down.
On Tuesday, Hunter filed a $1 million lawsuit against the city and Officer Woodson, alleging his 14th Amendment rights were violated.
Hunter told the Washington Post who found out his dog was dead through a phone call.
“I was shocked, crying, trying to figure out if it was really my dog that an officer had shot or if a mistake had been made,” he said.
Horrifying body camera footage showed the moment Sturgeon Police Officer Myron Woodson shot and killed a five-year-old blind and deaf Shih Tzu mix boy named Teddy.
On Sunday, Woodson was reportedly called to the scene to help the dog after it got lost. After trying to catch Teddy, the officer opened fire on the disabled pup.
Body camera footage of the tragic moment begins with Teddy wandering across an open grass field while Woodson attempts to tie the dogs with a pole.
While trying to catch the dog, Woodson is heard saying, “Come on, baby.” Come on baby. There you go.’
Every time he ties the lasso around Teddy’s neck, the puppy retreats 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 can be 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 away,” Woodson tells the neighbor.
The woman tells the officer: “But I have children here, don’t you think you should warn before you shoot?”
Woodson ignores the neighbor’s concerns as he is seen waving goodbye to her shadow reflected on the grass.
Officer Woodson (pictured) has since been placed on paid leave amid backlash from small town residents. They push to fire the officer for his actions
The officer’s body camera 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 is a threat to a person and harms them or shows an immediate threat, that is when force is used,” 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 blind; I don’t know the dog is blind,” Woodson responded.
When he allegedly said he believed Teddy needed to be put down, Hunter asked, “So you’re putting him out of his misery?”
‘What am I supposed to do?’ Woodson responded, pointing out that the small Missouri town does not have animal control.
“I don’t like shooting dogs,” the officer added.
Hunter said that after meeting the disabled dog, she “instantly fell in love with his happy, playful personality,” adding, “He was so small you could hold him with one hand.”
Hunter’s attorney, Daniel Kolde, said ABC17: ‘It was an unreasonable destruction of Mr. Hunter’s property, in this case Teddy, and the state can’t do that unless it has a court order or has a very, very, very good reason. In this case there was no good reason.”
Kolde added that there is animal control in the small town and that Woodson is a part of it.
‘He’s animal control. That’s what the ordinance says. Either he didn’t know, he didn’t think about it or he didn’t care.
Abbey Harnish, Teddy’s other owner, told ABC17 that he was “the sweetest dog ever.”
“His life ended in a horrible way,” Harnish added.
Hunter said that after meeting the disabled dog, she “instantly fell in love with his happy, playful personality.”
Amid outrage from Sturgeon residents, the city issued a statement insisting the officer “acted within his authority” after reviewing body camera footage.
On Tuesday, Hunter filed a $1 million lawsuit against the city and Officer Woodson. Distraught homeowner alleged his 14th Amendment rights were violated
“It was so small you could hold it with one hand.”
Amid outrage from Sturgeon residents, the city issued two statements, including one insisting the officer “acted within his authority.”
But locals say they remain concerned about the shooting on a residential street, as the owner of the yard where Teddy was shot sent a letter to the city demanding that Woodson be removed from his duties.
The letter also emphasized that the dog posed no threat and that Woodson fired his gun several times while “neighbor children (in) the side yards were playing and my family within the nearby perimeter.”
The resident added that his 17-year-old daughter witnessed Woodson kill the dog.
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, even though the officer reportedly made no such claims at the scene.
‘The SPD officer also noticed that the animal did not have a collar or tags. “The SPD officer made numerous attempts to capture the dog using the capture stick,” the statement added.
‘Based on the behavior exhibited by the dog, believing it to be seriously injured or infected with rabies, and as the officer feared being bitten and infected with rabies, the SPD officer felt his only option was to euthanize the animal. ‘
Hunter is seen confronting Woodson on the officer’s body camera footage as he asks him why he shot his beloved pet.
The city admitted that “it was later learned” that Teddy’s behavior was due to him being blind, and that “the animal’s lack of collar or tags influenced the SPD officer’s decision to euthanize the animal due to his belief of that he was hurt.” sick and abandoned.’
On Tuesday, dozens of citizens gathered at the Sturgeon Recreation Center and demanded that Woodson be held accountable for Teddy’s death.
The board told residents that Woodson would remain on paid leave until further notice.
Jon Miller, a local resident, said: “I don’t think Teddy needed to be shot.”
“I think this could have been handled differently if people had spoken up like we did today and gone to their town meetings and paid attention to who is voting into office and held them accountable.”
Another resident, Jennifer Mixson, who worked with Woodson at the Moberly Department of Corrections, called the officer a “thug.”
Abbey Harnish, Teddy’s other owner, said he was “the sweetest dog ever” and added: “His life ended in a horrible way.”
Officer Woodson was a thug. He was inflexible, he was sadistic with the inmates. “If you look at his record, it reflects my comment,” Mixson said.
Regina Adams-Miller previously said KOMU: ‘What if we had, you know, kids playing outside?’
‘It’s scary, I don’t think the community feels very safe with him. And I think I can speak honestly for the majority of the community, not all, but the majority,” Adams-Miller added.
The lawsuit filed against the small Missouri city and Woodson alleged that the city failed to properly supervise, train and discipline the officer who used unnecessary deadly force against the puppy.
‘This officer has absolutely no training and had no idea how to use this catch pole. He is not using it correctly. He’s using it one-handed,” Hunter’s attorney said.
The lawsuit, reviewed by ABC17, also claims that Woodson has multiple complaints against him from residents, although it is unclear what those complaints entail.
Kolde said he plans to file criminal charges against Woodson.
‘I am a lawyer specializing in animals and I have worked on many of these cases. “This is one of the clearest cases of animal cruelty I have seen,” he added.