Benton County Sheriff Addresses Dog Shooting By Deputy

Last week a tragic incident transpired in Benton County when a report was made, deputies arrived at the scene, and two dogs were shot.  That sentence makes it seem simple.  It was anything but simple.

A call was placed asking for help as someone claimed to be trapped in their truck by aggressive.  Deputies arrived to find three Rottweilers at the scene.  According to the Sheriff's Office, the deputies reached out to Benton County Animal Control and were told the shelter was full and Animal Control was not responding.

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Because Animal Control did not respond, and the deputies began to feel their safety was threatened, the shot two of the three dogs.  They did not survive.  Benton County Animal Control notified the dogs owner, Michelle Swanson, though microchips that her dogs had been killed.

I've been a dog owner for 25 years.  This bothers me as much as it has bothered others.  I always try to give space to a situation before reacting to gather as much information as possible and remove emotion from the equation.  This situation is tough.

The BCSO had scheduled a press conference for Tuesday of this week and then cancelled it a few hours later.  The reason given was the release was sent before the County Commissioner's Meeting and at that meeting, the Sheriff heard public comment on the situation and decided, along with Command Staff, to speak to those impacted by what happened.

The actionable event after that meeting was revealed in Sheriff Croskrey's statement released Thursday the 28th:

A workshop has been scheduled with the Board of County Commissioners for April 8th, 2024, where the Sheriff’s Office and the Board of County Commissioners will discuss options and plans moving forward.

The Sheriff said the deputies acted according to the department's current policies, but that those policies would be evaluated.  I personally take that to mean that changes will ne coming to the policy.

One of the community members that was at the meeting with the Sheriff and Command Staff that they were surprised the media wasn't there and that they would have been happy to have us there.

As a nearly 30 year member of the media I'll be the first to tell you, we don't always make things better, in fact, sometimes we make them worse.  The more emotional the situation, the more responsible the media should be to get the facts and present them as such.  This story is a prime example.

This is a tragic situation.  My heart bleeds for Ms. Swanson.  I've lost dogs, and will lose them again, and the hurt to the heart is severe.  I also believe Sheriff Tom Croskrey is a man of integrity.  I believe him when he says his intention is to evaluate and look at at current policies.

I take some of the last words from his statement as sincere:

The input from the community members is crucial in helping us improve our practices and better serve our community.

You can count on input from the community Sheriff and hopefully the situation that happened last week can be avoided in the future.