Pine Bluff Police Documents Show Officer Cut Dog's Throat, Internal Investigation Underway

"Ah, I feel so bad," he said in the glare of blue police  lights.

Pine Bluff Police Office Brandon Greene appears obviously bothered by running over a dog at the intersection of Tupelo and Dollarway Wednesday.

"Why couldn't I have hit Bambi? I wouldn't cry over Bambi," he said to supervising officer Sergeant Edna Butler.

"I'm going to let you know, that's the same dog I've missed several times tonight," she replied.

After hitting the dog in his patrol unit, Greene reported the incident and Butler arrived on scene to a dog clearly hurt.

"I know he rolled underneath the undercarriage. I don't think it can get any worse," Greene said.

Greene, throughout the video, claims to not "have the heart" to put the dog down. He opts not to use his service weapon to put the dog out of its misery, apparently because he doesn't want to fill out the required paperwork.
 
"I ain't got the heart to put him down, and I'm not going to use my gun, cause I'm not doing that report," he said.

Pine Bluff Police Department policy requires a "Use of Force" report be filed when a weapon is discharged and for the report to be reviewed. Greene, eventually vocalizing hope the dog was already dead.

"I think he's already gone," Greene says in the video.

"No, he isn't," an unidentified officer replies.

"Well, he's already lost his bowels," Greene notes. "I'll just let the dog catcher deal with it. She [Butler] said she hates it for him, but she's going to let the dog catcher do it."

Greene, apparently responding to a suggestion made by another officer that is inaudible, says, "Are you kidding?" and then Butler makes he own suggestion before the audio cuts out.

"Hand me a **** gun, I'll do it.," she said.

An internal memo written by Butler reveals that a discussion did eventually occur between the officers, with an Offficer E. Muniz appearing "to be the only officer at the scene to relieve the dog of its pain and suffering."

Butler's memo goes on to note, "Officer Muniz mentioned a couple of ways to handle this action. I chose the use of his pocket knife to cut the neck area."

According to Butler, the slicing of the animal's throat "immediately relieved the dog of its pain and suffering".

Pine Bluff Police declined to comment about the incident, saying it is under internal investigation. According to written policy and training guides, officers are not trained to use knives as a mode of deadly force, and they are not issued knives as part of their police gear.

According to department policy, deadly force for humanitarian reasons can be used on an animal,but it only refers to handguns, which require a use of force report to be filed.

Butler has requested a voluntary leave of absence, all other officers involved remain on duty.