COLUMBIA, Tenn. (WKRN) – Maury County will soon decide whether animal control officers should wear body cameras after a 130-pound Labrador named Neil died last month while officers were trying to capture him.
Maury County Animal Services dispatched officers after receiving a call about an aggressive dog. News 2 has obtained the recording of the voicemail.
“There’s a dog that’s bothering the neighbors and they couldn’t get out of the car or the house. He’s coming here because my dog is in heat and I want him picked up,” the caller said. ‘He’s very dangerous. He’s going to bite any of the children or relatives of mine who come here.
Neil’s owner, Michael Grieshaber, said that while he was sick with the flu, he lost track of Neil, so he called police and Maury County Animal Services to look for him.
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According to Maury County Shelter Director Kimberly Raffauf, Neil wandered the neighborhood for five days.
On Oct. 16, Grieshaber said he received a call from an officer telling him Neil had died.
Grieshaber described the call to News 2: “The officer called and said it was my dog, and I had to call him, and I called him and I said, ‘Oh, don’t tell me someone shot my… who. shot my dog?’ He said, ‘No, he wasn’t shot,’ and then they told me he was strangled.”
Based on the capture report from Maury County officials, none of the dog’s owners were home and Neil was not microchipped, so they could not immediately identify Neil’s owner.
Raffauf said animal control officers placed a catch pole on Neil and led him to their vehicle, but they had difficulty lifting him because he weighed about 130 pounds.
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“There was a freak accident where the pole got stuck, so they tried to rush to get it into the vehicle, and [Neil] worked against it,” Raffauf explained.
A trainee animal control officer who was at the scene said that when the lead officer was looking for a way to get Neil into the trunk, she “realized the dog was too calm.” According to the arrest report, Neil was “too limp” and then “unconscious.”
After hearing about Neil’s death, Grieshaber said his first reaction was shock, followed by heartbreak.
“He’s big, beautiful, muscular and intimidating looking, but he’s nothing but a big old bear,” he said.
When asked if Neil had ever hurt anyone before Grieshaber said, “Never…I have twelve grandchildren, ten granddaughters and two grandsons, and he grew up with all of them. He has never bitten anyone.”
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Raffauf told News 2 she fired the lead animal control officer responsible for capturing Neil.
After Neil’s death, Grieshaber donated body cameras to the shelter in hopes that animal control officers will wear them. Raffauf said she is in favor of the cameras and proposed the idea at the Maury County Health and Safety Commission meeting. It will ultimately be up to Maury County officials to decide whether animal control officers will wear the cameras.
To cope with the loss of Neil, Grieshaber adopted a German Shepherd puppy from the shelter named Darcy. Although she will never replace Neil, Raffauf said she hopes Darcy will give Grieshaber and his family some peace and comfort.
“It’s our family, you know?” Grieshaber said. “You could have everything I own, but not my dog. You can have my truck, my house… I just want my dog.”
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