Pender sheriff defends deputy who fatally shot dog during welfare check, calls incident ‘unfortunate’

BURGAW, N.C. (WECT) - Pender County Sheriff Alan Cutler said a deputy who fatally shot a dog while responding to a welfare check earlier this month was justified in his actions and called the incident an “unfortunate situation.”

On Saturday, Aug. 15, a caller alerted the sheriff’s office that Bruce Benson failed to show for a scheduled church workday event and that they were worried about him. After multiple failed attempts to contact Benson during the preceding 24 hours, deputies responded to Benson’s home on Wolfe Run Road in Burgaw around 10:30 a.m.

Cutler said one of the responding deputies knew Benson and that deputy was the first to try to make contact with Benson by knocking on his door.

As deputies approached the home, a dog named Astro began barking from inside the home.

“After a short time, Mr. Benson answered the knock at the door and when he spoke to the deputy, he opened his door and the dog ran out of the house. The dog continued to bark and growl while the initial deputy explained why they were there,” Cutler stated.

Cutler said when the dog ran outside, he “aggressively” proceeded toward two of the deputies, and eventually ran at one deputy, who managed to jump into the back of a pickup truck.

“The dog turned toward the third deputy who attempted to retreat and look for protection from the dog. The dog continued to advance aggressively toward the deputy while growling and showing his teeth,” Cutler stated. ”The deputy pulled his sidearm and discharged one round, stopping the dog approximately one foot from the deputy.”

WECT spoke with Benson over the weekend and he still seemed in shock from the incident.

“I heard the shot and I exploded at the door past the two deputies,” Benson recalled. “I said, ‘Oh my God, they better not have shot my dog.’ I came over here and it was the God-awfullest mess I’d seen in my life. They must have shot him in the head.”

Benson said while Astro — a Dutch Shepard and Belgian Malinois mix — barked at the deputies as most dogs would, he wasn’t a mean dog. He said Astro was a 4-year-old rescue who was loving, loyal, and in the prime of his life.

“He died doing what he was here for and that was to protect me and to protect our house here. He didn’t know those people, he didn’t know what a law enforcement badge was. He was merely letting me know that there was somebody here that shouldn’t be here,” Benson said.

Sheriff Cutler said that while this was “a very unfortunate situation” that has impacted Benson, the deputies, and caused concern within the community, sheriff’s office policy allows for a deputy to kill an animal in self-defense to prevent harm to the deputy or another person.

“I hate that this event ended the way that it did, but I am confident that the deputy took the action necessary to protect himself from imminent harm,” Cutler stated.

Cutler said neighbors indicated that Astro could become aggressive toward newcomers and that a neighbor reported at least one instance where the dog ran toward children in an aggressive manner.

Benson said that the sheriff’s office offered to pay for Astro’s cremation.

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