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Sicko cop shoots Texas man’s dog on sight

Robby Soave Reporter
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An East Texas man is sad and furious after a sheriff’s deputy shot his dog, Candy, without provocation.

The shot did not kill the dog instantaneously. The man, Cole Middleton of Rains County, Texas, was forced to put Candy out of her misery with his own bare hands.

Middleton owns a dairy farm, and Candy was his cattle-herding dog, according to KLTV 7.

The officer came to the house in response to Middleton’s 911 call. Middleton made the call around 11:00 AM, after returning to his home and finding it robbed. Middleton was in his fields when the officer showed up. He was hurrying back to the house when the deputy shot Candy.

According to Middleton, the shooting was baseless. Candy did not bite or threaten the officer.

“She’s barking when he pulls into the driveway letting me know someone’s at our house, an intruder is here, or a person who she would think was an intruder that she’s unfamiliar with,” he said. “She’s barking. The officer gets out of his car, and all the while we’re headed up [there]. He gets out of his car and shoots my dog in my front yard.”

Though shot in the head, Candy did not die immediately. Middleton had no gun of his own — his weapons were stolen — and tearfully begged the deputy to put down the dog. The deputy refused.

“And then I had to do the unthinkable, the otherwise unthinkable,” he said. “I had to kill my dog with my bare hands and put her out of her suffering, praying for this to be over with.”

Other officers soon appeared at the farm, tasers and pistols drawn. They demanded to know whose blood was all over Middleton’s shirt.

“That is the blood of my dog that I was holding because this deputy pulled up and shot her in my yard,” he told them.

Middleton buried Candy under her favorite tree. The man was devastated.

The sheriff’s department is investigating the matter.

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