Most folks who run dogs—whether it’s a bird dog, a ranch mutt, or the family’s couch-hogging companion—know the feeling of a leash slipping or a door popping open at the wrong time. In a split second, you’re trying to get an animal back under control while a stranger decides what kind of situation they’re in.
That split second is at the center of a Loveland, Colorado settlement that’s now turning heads for its size and what it forces the police department to change. Details of the case and payout were reported in the source post, including body camera footage and the timeline that followed.
A routine call turned into a dog encounter in seconds
The incident happened June 29, 2019, when Loveland police officer Mat Grashorn responded to a call about a suspicious truck parked on commercial property. He found Wendy Love and Jay Hamm in the lot with three dogs. According to the lawsuit, the couple was making firewood deliveries and had stopped to give the dogs water.
Body cam footage released with the lawsuit shows the officer stepping out of his cruiser as one dog, Bubba, got up and ran toward him. The couple yelled for the dog to come back, and Bubba paused and turned back toward them. Then their 14-month-old dog, Herkimer—a Staffordshire terrier and boxer mix—jumped out of the truck and loped toward the officer with his tail wagging. Grashorn shot Herkimer.
The moments after the shot made everything worse
Anyone who’s had an animal hurt knows there’s an ugly instinct that kicks in: get to them, touch them, help them, do something. In this case, after the shooting, Grashorn refused to let the couple near their dog and ordered them back to their truck…