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By Outer Banks Voice on October 3, 2022

Update: The office of Kitty Hawk Town Manager Andy Stewart has released this brief Oct. 4 update to the initial statement from the police department provided a day earlier.

The new release states that “an internal investigation is underway, and the findings will be made available to the general public when complete. The Town Manager has placed the officer involved on Administrative Leave pending the outcome of the investigation.” 

The Voice continues its efforts to report on this story independently and will publish what it learns.

The Town of Kitty Hawk has issued this Oct. 3 press release about an incident involving an officer and a dog on Oct. 1. In the last few days, there has been conversation about this subject showing up on social media.

Here is the three-paragraph release issued this afternoon.

On Oct. 1, the Kitty Hawk Police Department was dispatched to the 4000 block of Smith Street after a 911 call for a dog running at large and being aggressive towards children.

When the officer made contact with the owner of the dog, the dog came from under the house, aggressively charged the officer, and bit him. The officer discharged his duty issued weapon to stop the attack and unfortunately the dog did not survive.

The Police Department will be investigating this incident to ensure the Town’s policy and criteria for Discharge of a Service Weapon were followed.

Just because the le says the officer was bitten doesn’t make it true. Also, just because they reported the dog as being aggressive towards the officer doesn’t mean anything. That is their side of the story. Then you also have the owners side of the story. Somewhere in the middle is the truth in sure. Regardless, if an officer is being threatened by an aggressive animal and he shoots without hesitation what would the officer do to an aggressive human? God forbid a child was near the animal when he fired his weapon.

Why wasn’t the dog fenced in or leashed? Unlawful to let your dog run around.

A photo of the bite should be published. Black marker can cover any private parts. A dog bite is very painful, and not even a trained officer is immune to reaction.

Yet the officer refuses to show a bite or seek medical attention. Interesting how the police statement and the statement from the dogs owner are completely different.

Where is the body camera footage?

Was the dog shot on the property of the owner? How is it unlawful for the dog to be unleashed on the owner’s property.

Seems to me would be SOP for the bite to be documented if that was the reason for firing the weapon. Considering there were minimum 3 witnesses, video footage, and he picked up the shells and left! Then the next day mocked them and laughed Meador needs to be convicted on the fullest extent. And his leave pay should be held unless proven not guilty. Cheers to his last paycheck

Mark please post how we can help the dog owner with legal fees. Heard there was a fund started but can’t find.

If only that same department could be so prompt when investigating femicide.

I’m sure this is the dog’s fault – only the best & the brightest have ever been employed by KHPD.

Why doesn’t Kitty Hawk have a animal control officer??? Kill Devil Hills and Nags Head have them. Kitty Hawk Police could have easily requested mutual aid from KDH to send their animal control officer to help with a dog situation. If no body camera footage is available how about any footage from the dash cam of the patrol car? Hard to believe it takes 3 direct successful on target shots from a 9mm to put a dog down at 10 yards. At 10 yards a 200lb man will drop down after one bullet. Why did it take 48 hours for the officer to be placed on administrative leave? Probably should have been done after he discharged his weapon. Why would the Kitty Hawk Police allow the officer to investigate another incident on the same street the next day and allow him to make insensitive remarks to the owner of the animal? Pretty unprofessional of that officer and not a good representation of the Police department.

An officer put on leave for shooting a dog?! How about the accountability for botching a murder investigation why wasn’t anyone put on leave or terminated for that mess? Seems like town and department leadership don’t have their priorities in place!

End of the story is the dog was on the property of the owner!! He was doing what the dogs suppose to. Why do we even have this blah blah around?

Social media is the best. And in the end we can continue to not stand each other.

I’ll stand with my pit bulls, both abused and more loving than any human I know. Remember, it is never about the dog. It is about how they were treated, and most of us do not deserve them.

FWIW…there is no requirement in Kitty Hawk that a dog on private property be restrained…only prevented from entering another property. A fence is all that is needed. A dog running free on his owners property is not a violation.

“Dogs in Public Any dog in public must be kept on a leash not exceeding 12 feet long. Dogs kept on private property must be restrained in such a manner to prevent them from entering entry onto public property or another property. “

Don’t become a Cop if your a big sissy afraid of a dog . Ok buttercup? Acab

I have a feeling something is is rotten in Denmark. The body cam (if a court order releases it) will tell all. With the history of calls about this dog, I am going to *GUESS* this dog went after the officer, and he fired on the dog. Deploying a taser on something as small as a dog would be near impossible, (both “flying fishhooks” would have gone right by either side of the dog, and you have to land both sides for it to work) and would have probably netted the same result in the dog being dead. Also, if this was a registered therapy dog, that dog would NEVER leave the owner’s side so I call BS on that one. What we have is a disgruntled dog owner who failed to control their animal resulting in multiple calls about it on several occasions, and this time it came to a head. Body/dash cam footage should absolutely be a FOIA item, and the NC law passed in 2016 requiring a court order is absolutely ridiculous. This will all come out in the wash.

Mike He didn’t follow procedure. Had body cam turned off or not on his person. Left his partner at station. Dressed in all black. Car parked behind bushes so dash cam wouldn’t see. Never identified himself being there or to restrain the dog for some questions. Shot dog face to face prior to any contact w the dog. Picked up casings and left. Karma will get him. Either now or later

Someone lied to animal control about my dog. He was a 14 year old almost deaf and with cataracts. He loved everyone and wagged his tails at butterflies! Several breeders wanted him to mate with their dogs because he had a wonderful disposition. His favorite past time was to nudge a tennis ball down the steps outside and race down to catch it. He never barked his entire life. The vet said his vocal chords were fine he was just the most laid back dog she ever met.

Well some touron decided to trespass under my house and thru my yard to get to the beach quicker. My dog was outside playing with his tennis ball on the steps. The next thing I know animal control is knocking at my door asking where my other dog is??? I said I have no other dog what are you talking about? He said “ Those f***king tourists called in your dog as charging them. “ He said I walked in your yard and your dog was wagging his tail from side to side. I said he was doing nothing but playing in his own yard. Animal control apologized for bothering us.

So that is how TRUE you can believe some of these so called dog reports.

Interesting that the Town of Kitty Hawk has $5+ million to spend on a new police station but can’t spare ~$50k in the budget for an animal control officer and proper training for officers.

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