Man Forced to Decapitate His Dog Sues Deputies

A dog owner who was ordered to decapitate his pet after a deputy shot it to death is now suing over the ordeal. The disturbing chain of events began in December, when a deputy showed up to the home of Joe Goodwin in Crawford County, Georgia, to investigate a neighbor's complaint of being bitten by Goodwin's dog, reports the Telegraph of Macon. The deputy shot and killed the dog after he says it lunged at him outside. And that's when things turned grisly. When sheriff's investigator James Hollis arrived, he told Goodwin to cut the dog's head off so it could be tested for rabies, according to the lawsuit, per the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Goodwin says he complied because he feared arrest or worse.

“Under extreme emotional duress and distress, and under threat of incarceration and physical harm, Plaintiff Goodwin was forced to decapitate the dog with a knife,” according to the lawsuit. Goodwin's girlfriend later drove the head to the health department in a plastic bag. The couple is now suing the two sheriff's officials who arrived at the house, as well as Sheriff Lewis Walker, for $75,000. Both say they were traumatized by the incident. Meanwhile, a petition demanding that the sheriff fire Hollis has gotten nearly 200,000 signatures online. (More decapitation stories.)