A Crawford County man says an investigator ordered him to cut his dead dog’s head off after it attacked a neighbor.
Joe Goodwin says he got a call Friday to come home after his dog Big Boy bit a neighbor.
Before he got home, Goodwin said, officers came to the neighborhood to investigate the complaint. But he said Big Boy ran at one of the officers, who shot and killed him.
Goodwin says he understands why they had to shoot his dog, but he doesn't understand what followed.
When he arrived home, Goodwin says, he says he recorded videos of his argument with the Crawford County investigator.
In part of the video, a man who identified himself as investigator James Hollis said, “We’re asking you to remove the dog’s head and you’re refusing, right?”
Hollis told him he had to remove his dog’s head to test it for rabies -- or go to jail. Goodwin says he refused at first -- but obeyed the officer.
WMAZ edited the clips of the interaction between Goodwin and the officers to censor the profanity.
“I removed my dog’s head and I put it in some Kroger bag and I showed the officer, ‘Here’s the head, this is what you wanted, right?’”, said Goodwin.
There is another clip Goodwin provided WMAZ that we chose not to publish because of its graphic nature. It shows Goodwin beheading the dog while the officers talk in the background.
WMAZ reached out to the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office Monday morning. They said they are investigating the incident. They said facts will be released as they become available.
WMAZ has also requested a copy of the incident report, but the sheriff’s office says they are still working on it and could not release it.
The sheriff's office said Sheriff Lewis Walker was out of town Monday.