Doggycide in Chaffee, Missouri

Police in Chaffee, Missouri respond to a call about an apparent lost dog with mange. What happens next leads to investigations that result in the city pound being shut down and accusations that the police chief and the mayor himself ordered an officer to kill the pooch and then tried to cover it up:

A dispatch log shows that a dispatcher was later ordered to not tell the dog's owners about the fate of their pet.

But it appears that no criminal charges will be filed in connection with the dog's death.

[…]

The report says the police department received a call around 1 p.m. from a Chaffee resident who said a dog had been outside the resident's apartment for most of the day and appeared to have mange. Ludwig responded to 537 W. Yoakum St. and then called the station to have a dispatcher request the city's animal control officer, Jerry Laxton. Ludwig also thought the dog had mange.

The dispatcher could not reach Laxton, so Ludwig drove to Rhodes 101 store in Chaffee, where Laxton works part time. As they talked about the dog, Loucks entered the store and was told about the dog and that the officers weren't sure what to do with it. It was then, Ludwig wrote, that he suggested taking to the dog to a veterinarian, but Loucks said no and to take the dog out to the city compost site and shoot it.

Ludwig and Mark Lueder, a city employee who picked up the dog, met at the compost site around 3 p.m. Ludwig wrote that he went to the site because Lueder left a message at the police station that he did not have a gun. When Ludwig arrived, Lueder had already dug a hole.

"I then loaded a range round into my service weapon and then Mark placed the dog into the hole. At that time I took aim and shot the dog once in the head," Ludwig wrote.

According to the report, Lueder covered the hole, and the two men left.

Hit the article for more details. It almost comes across like an crossover between CSI and Pound Patrol, and not in a good way.

(via @radleybalko)

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Doggycide Bingo Index

Confirmed hits:

Dead Lexi

No apology offered

Killing was premeditated

Total: 3/25
A highly irregular situation, where the dog’s death was actually ordered and subsequently covered up. But nonetheless, no bingo.

Tags: Lexi the rat terrier/shih tzu mix • Chaffee, MO • Steve Loucks • Robert Ludwig • Mark Lueder