Locust Grove police chief resigns following controversy involving 2 dogs being shot by officers

LOCUST GROVE, Okla. — Locust Grove is seeing another change in leadership after the town’s third police chief in less than two years resigned. Former Police Chief Cullen Bean said he made the decision to step down after his officers were told by the town’s mayor to shoot two stray dogs.

FOX23 sat down with the foster family of Lucky, a one-year-old dog who lives in Tahlequah, as he recovers from a gunshot wound to the right side of his head. Lucky and another stray dog were shot in the head by Locust Grove police officers in August. Lucky survived his injuries, but the other dog did not.

The couple fostering Lucky said they were shocked at what happened to him.

“Instead of taking care of them, they took them out and shot them in the head,” said Tina Hawthorne, the Lucky’s foster mother.

His foster family showed FOX23 Lucky’s wound, where some bullet fragments remain in his skull.

“[The vet] will have to go in and excise it,” Hawthorne explained. “And try to get it out that way.”

While the shooting didn’t kill Lucky, it left him blind in his right eye and deaf in his right ear.

Bean told FOX23 it all started when his officers were called to a home where a woman had to surrender some of her dogs — Lucky being one of them. Bean alleged that Locust Grove Mayor Jason Williams arrived at the home and instructed officers to take the dogs to an old sewage plant near E Joel Koerch and N Wyandotte.

“She keeps three, and there are two left,” Bean explained. “The mayor tells officers to load [the dogs] up. [The mayor] tells them to take [the dogs] out to the old sewage and water plant, … get them out and shoots both dogs.”

FOX23 obtained an audio recording from a group called “Concerned Citizens for Animals.” In the recording, Bean confirmed one of his officers can be heard talking about shooting Lucky and the other dog.

In the recording, the officer sounded surprised Lucky survived the shooting.

“He was dead when we left,” the officer said.

According to an incident report provided by Bean, the responding officers asked Williams if they were supposed to “put the dogs down” and “[Williams] nodded yes.”

Reading the report was enough for Bean to leave his position.

“I resigned,” Bean recalled.

FOX23 spoke with Williams over the phone about the incident, and he said his legal advisors told him not to comment. Though he denied the allegations from the report, and said it’s not in the town’s policy to shoot dogs.

Williams also said the officers were “given warnings not to conduct actions that way again.”

Lucky’s foster family said they are still livid about what happened to him, but they are focused on giving him all the love and support he needs through his recovery.

According to an update from Circle L Rescue, a local animal shelter that Lucky’s foster family works with, he is recovery well and recently celebrated his first birthday on Aug. 28, 2022.

Lucky’s hearing is improving slowly, but the vet believes he will be almost completely deaf in his right ear for the rest of his life, according to Circle L Rescue. His vision in his right eye is also improving, and he may be able to see shadows in the near future.

Locust Grove Police Chief Windrunner Eagle has since taken over the position. The police department has seven full time police officers.

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