This dog didn't have to die. If only these dumb pigs stopped doing worthless "compliance checks." I'm willing to wager this disgusting cop was thinking he's shooting a Registered Person's dog so he didn't care. Worse yet, he's not going to be reprimanded for it.
Faulkner County Sheriff's investigator fatally shoots kid's dog after going to wrong house
by Marine Glisovic, KATV Staff
Tuesday, November 10th 2020
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) - The Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office is conducting an internal investigation after an investigator shot and killed a child’s dog. According to a spokesperson, Investigator James Freeman was in Greenbrier for a sex offender compliance check but went to the wrong home.
Chris Coiner, who lives at the home where Freeman shot the dog, contacted Seven On Your Side after his dog had been shot and killed on Monday afternoon.
Coiner, who recorded his interaction with Freeman, said his dog was shot just for barking. “Wait right there. What is your name? What’s your name?” Coiner asked the investigator in the video. “I’m investigator Freeman with the Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office...I’m looking for Samuel,” Freeman responded.
“At what address?” Coiner asked. “72 A,” Freeman responded.
“That’s over there you G****** moron. Get off my property! You shot and killed my dog!"
It was a gruesome scene on Autumn Hills Road Monday afternoon when Freeman shot Coiner’s three-year-old Terrier mix, Clide. Coiner said Freeman shot Clide in the head.
“My daughter was coming to the door and said somebody was in the driveway,” Coiner described. “Just a blue pickup, unmarked. Before I was even around the corner here, I heard a shot, and the officer had shot my dog right here in the yard for barking at him. My girlfriend watched it out the window, the dog was not attacking him, the dog was barking, in my yard, on private property.”
According to Faulkner County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Captain Erinn Stone, Freeman was conducting a sex offender compliance check at 72 Autumn Hills Road. A person living there allegedly told Freeman the offender possibly lives next door.
“I asked him why he was here, and he said he was looking for somebody named Samuel at 72 Autumn Hills Road which is the next-door neighbor,” said Coiner. “I didn’t know this at the time, but I had found out he had already been to 72 which was the right address, so he knew he was not at the right address and he shot my dog for barking at him.”
While this incident is under internal review, Chief Deputy Matt Rice confirmed Freeman is still on duty – a fact Coiner said is hard to understand.
“He’s at work today and my protecting guard dog here will never work again because he killed him yesterday.”
Coiner is now asking the sheriff’s office to review their own policies and provide further training. As some may recall, this isn’t the first time this type of incident has happened.
Back in January of 2019, a Faulkner County deputy shot a dog that survived. That deputy was later fired and charged with animal cruelty.
SOYS asked whether the sheriff’s office had changed internal policies since that 2019 shooting and Chief Deputy Rice said they have not changed their policies.
The sheriff's office had no further comment on the incident involving Freeman.
