Hertford County deputies under fire after woman says they shot and left malnourished dog dead with bloody gloves nearby.
A North Carolina woman tells The North Carolina Beat that she found a malnourished dog Saturday night on Church Road in Ahoskie on the county line of Bertie County and Hertford County and called for help—but by the next morning, the dog was shot dead, thrown on the side of the road, and surrounded by bloody gloves.
Whitney Coker said she lives a mile from the Hertford County line. While heading into town earlier that day, she saw the dog and thought maybe he was trying to find his way home. But when she came back home and saw the dog still there, she stopped.
“I stopped, took a video of the dog and I posted on Facebook—but I’ve already deleted the post now. A couple shares from the post but nobody claimed the dog,” Coker said.
After nobody came to claim the dog, Coker said she called the animal shelter—and what happened next shocked her.
“Me personally, I didn’t know that the animal shelter…I knew they put dogs down, but like, I did not know shoot the dog was a thing,” Coker told us.
She said the shelter was closed, so her call was transferred to the Hertford County Help Line, which dispatched a sheriff’s deputy.
“The deputy told me, ‘I got a K-9 in my car and I can’t take this dog. I ain’t never shot no dog before and I ain’t about to shoot this one.’ I was like huh?”
She said the deputy called the animal shelter with the phone on speaker.
“He asked her ‘what you want me to do about it?’ and she was like ‘what breed is it?’ He told her it looked like a pitbull. She said they were going to put it down at the shelter, so he might as well shoot it.”
Coker said the deputy tried to walk away while still on speaker phone and said he would call her back. Then two more deputies arrived.
They called the same lady again. According to Coker, she said the same thing: shoot the dog. The deputies then told Coker she could go home and they’d “handle it.”
“I was like look, I don’t want it to be shot, y’all. I just can’t take it because I have a dog at home that’s literally my emotional support dog.”
She says the dog was not aggressive—just terrified.
“He didn’t growl, didn’t do anything. Just scared. I pulled up and fed him. This was around 8 p.m., it was getting dark.”
“Shooting the dog was not the correct way, I’m sorry,” she said. “I know they put dogs down but it’s the principle behind how they did this.”
She said when she got home, she heard a gunshot. It bothered her all night.
The next morning, she left the house to get food but had to pass by the same spot.
“I said let me make sure they didn’t leave this dog on the side of the road. Let me just check.”
And what she found broke her heart.
“There were two pairs of bloody gloves. The dog—dead—on the side of the road. I bawled like a baby.”
Hertford County Deputies Leaves Bloody Gloves Behind
“That was dead a*s wrong,” she said.
In a statement posted to Facebook, Hertford County Sheriff Dexter Hayes confirmed that deputies did shoot a malnourished dog after responding to a call over the weekend involving an abandoned animal on the Bertie-Hertford county line.
“The animal was in extremely poor condition. It was skeletal, unable to stand or walk, and appeared to have suffered both from neglect and possibly being struck by a vehicle,” Hayes said.
Sheriff Hayes offered a heartfelt apology to the public and especially to those disturbed by how the situation was handled.
“I truly believe this was not an easy choice for them to make, but it was done with the dog’s best interest in mind. However, I also recognize the concern this has caused, and for that, I sincerely apologize.”
WATCH VIDEO OF THE DOG BEFORE BEING SHOT BY HERTFORD COUNTY DEPUTIES:
2 thoughts on “Hertford County Deputies Accused of Shooting Dog and Leaving It on the Side of the Road”
I don’t condone what they did shooting and leaving it there, but I wasn’t there. I don’t know the conditions of the dog. Also they stated they called several resources and got no answers.
If it had not been fed for weeks and it was starving and if it had been hit by a car or truck it was suffering. The pound or vet would have put it down.
Some people are scared of pit bulls.
I have seen what they can do to a person.
If that was hurt and that officer tried to pick it up it could have bit them, not because it was mean bc it was hurt and scared.
Back in the day that is what people use to do , don’t let the animal suffer.
I mean if it was hit by a car or truck it could have died with in hours anyways.
So it would have been left there .
What about the people who dumped the door or the car or truck of hit the dog and come back to check on it..
How sad is that??
Bs, you’re not a vet, it wasn’t your job to decide if he could be saved or not. The good old boys club, huh?? Where was aco , they’re suppose to pick up injured dogs???? The shelter said shoot cause they would put it down anyway, after finding out what kind of dog. Boy talking about sticking together. This is not the end. Leaving the bloody gloves, leaving the dog??? This is how your agency works??