SPARTANBURG, SC --

Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright is defending a deputy who killed a tethered dog on Monday."I hate that the man lost his dog, I really do," says Wright. "But
I'd rather have that than one of my deputies needing several surgeries
because he got attacked by the dog."The dog's owner, Richard Woodruff, says the deputy could have easily
avoided the animal and ignored a warning sign. He also says the deputy
really had no business being at his home on Quartermaster Road.Woodruff says around 11:30 Monday morning, he heard his 8-year old shepherd mix, Diamond, barking. And then he heard a gunshot."I ran outside and I see this guy (who he later learned was a
Spartanburg County deputy in plain clothes) standing over my dog holding
a gun," says Woodruff. "I said, 'Why did you shoot my dog?' And his
response to me was, 'Sir, she tried to bite me.' I said, 'She tried to
bite you? She can't go any further to get you!"Diamond was tethered to the front porch railing by a cord. Woodruff
claims the dog was at the limit of the tether when the deputy shot her. "All he had to do was take a couple of steps back and she could not
have bitten him," says Woodruff. He also says Diamond was only doing
what she was supposed to do: protecting her home and alerting her
owners.The deputy, Sgt. Eric Boutin, wrote in an incident report that, as he
approached the home, the dog "charged, barking and growling and showing
its teeth". The report says the dog came to a stop four or five feet
from Boutin. He writes, "I quickly calculated the distance left in this
run and realized that I was well within reach". He says he tried to take
one step back and the dog charged at him, so he pulled his weapon and
fired one round, hitting the dog between teh shoulder blades.Photos taken at the scene by a sheriff's office investigator
initially seem to support Woodruff's claim that the dog was at the end
of her restraint. The photos show the tether pulled tight with the dog's
body lying about ten yards from the front of the porch. But Sheriff
Wright points out the tether is tight because it is caught on a flat
cement block."It could have slipped off at any second and given the dog another
three or four feet, and (the dog) would have had the deputy," says
Wright. "He really had no choice. But I am sorry the guy lost his dog." Woodruff says the whole mess could have been avoided if Boutin had
paid attention to the large "Beware of Dog" sign posted on the big oak
tree in his front yard."He parked his car right in front of it and walked past it," says Woodruff. "It's there for a reason."Wright says Boutin admitted to him that he did not see the sign."It was about head-high, he probably should have seen it," Wright
said, when questioned about a deputy's training to be observant of his
surroundings. "But he wasn't looking for signs. He was looking for the
people in the home to see what the people were doing."Woodruff says that's another point of contention. The deputy came to
Woodruff's house to serve child support papers on a man who doesn't live
at that address."I've lived here five years and I don't even know who that guy is," says Woodruff. "They had the wrong house."Wright says his deputies have to rely on the addresses they are given by the court system when they serve papers."At one time (the intended recipient) was living there," says Wright. He says Sgt. Boutin will not be disciplined.Woodruff says he will pursue legal action.


Read about the pussy dog killer here