PORT HURON, Mich. (WXYZ) — The St. Clair County Sheriff's Office is receiving lots of criticism after putting down a dog who bit a deputy. It happened Saturday outside the animal control building.
The sheriff's office said attempts to secure the dog were unsuccessful, and the dog became aggressive.
Watch Darren Cunningham's video report below:
In the video, one deputy said to the other, "Let's get it in the snow. Let's just get it in the snow and get it done."
The eight-minute clip ends before deputies took the dog behind the animal control building and shot it.
7 News Detroit spoke with Kelley Labonty, the director of Detroit Animal Welfare Group, or DAWG.
"That video brings me to tears. It makes me absolutely sick. I haven't been affected so much by an animal cruelty case in a long time," she said.
Watch St. Clair County Sheriff's Office body camera video below:
The video and posts about the incident are going viral on the organization's Facebook page. Thousands of people are expressing outrage.
"We were contacted by the people who were involved in this incident, and they were very distraught and upset about what they saw," Labonty recalled.
She said a family out enjoying the night in Casco Township spotted the stray dog and wanted to help during the bitter cold 9-degree weather.
"They brought it in their car and warmed it up and were giving it food, and they called animal control to try and help reunite it with its owner," Labonty said.
After the family drove 20 miles from Casco Township to the animal control building in Port Huron, county deputies responded because animal control was already closed.
Like many people online, Denise Loxton is calling the dog Hercules. He's also being called Legacy, since the owner hasn't come forward.
"There's no reason that dog should have been put down," Loxton said.
Labonty said, "Obviously, the dog wasn't mean because the people that rescued it got it in the car."
Labonty said glaring mistakes were made by the deputies like escalating the situation.
"They dragged him for minutes," she said. "All police officers handling animals should have training,"
"This is absolutely unacceptable. There needs to be change going forward, and there also needs to be an investigation on this killing."
Animal control told 7 News Detroit that no one called their on-call emergency number.
7 News Detroit called and stopped by the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office and was told no one was available to speak to with us.
