A deputy tried to shoot a tiny Pomeranian running towards him but injured a woman instead, a lawsuit says. The woman told Insider that a year later, the pain is still 'excruciating.'
Courtesy of Tre Kitchens
- An Arkansas deputy responded to a woman who called for help during a domestic violence incident.
- Bodycam footage appears to show the deputy shoot at her Pomeranian when it ran toward him.
- The deputy hit the woman instead, she says. She is suing the Columbia County Sheriff's Office.
A woman in Arkansas is suing her local sheriff's office, saying a deputy who fired his gun to shoot at a Pomeranian running toward him hit her instead.
Tina Hight, a resident of Columbia County, called the Columbia County Sheriff's Office on August 30, 2022, asking for assistance for what she told Insider was a "domestic violence" incident. The request for help spurred a traumatizing turn of events that still affects her today, she said.
The lawsuit was first reported by local station KATV.
"I became the person who called the cops for my protection to the victim in just a matter of minutes," Hight told Insider. "I'm shaking now just talking about it. It just gave me a lot of anxiety. I'm still very nervous about the police."
In bodycam footage viewed by Insider, Columbia County Deputy Brian Williams, one of two responding deputies, tells the other officer, "she's got some dogs in there," as they walk up the front yard to knock on her door.
Williams stands back while another deputy in front of him knocks on the door to Hight's residence. When the door opens, a couple of dogs walk out onto the front porch, and Hight explains that they won't bite the deputies.
The dogs — including a Pomeranian mix between 8-10 pounds, per Hight's lawyer — run and bark toward Williams.
Williams then begins shouting, "Get back! Get your dog! I'll kill this motherfucker!"
The video shows he then fires his gun once into the air. Hight begins gathering her dogs when the Pomeranian escapes and runs toward Williams again. He fires again, hitting Hight, who screams, "You shot me!"
She begins writhing in pain, telling the deputies to get away from her. "I'm scared of y'all," she says in the video, crying.
Williams and the second deputy deny that he shot Hight. At one point, Williams walks back to the patrol car after being asked to call an ambulance and says the dog was most likely responsible for her injuries.
"I shot at the goddamn dog, and I think the dog scratched her," Williams says in the video. "She said I shot her."
An ambulance eventually came that night, Tré Kitchens, Hight's lawyer, told Insider.
"I'm telling the officer that I felt the bullet go in," Hight told Insider. "I mean, I felt it was burning. It was like I was on fire. And they just brushed it off."
Kitchens provided photos to Insider of what he said were Hight's bullet wounds.
Hight said she still has the bullet lodged in her right shin and the pain is "excruciating." Hight also said that her Pomeranian was injured by bullet and concrete fragments but has fully recovered.
Kitchens told Insider this was "one of the most egregious cases" he had ever seen.
"It was a situation that didn't need to be escalated … it is by the grace of God and luck that he didn't kill another deputy, Ms. Hight, or somebody else in the house," Kitchens said.
In the lawsuit filed in June, reviewed by Insider, Hight and her lawyer assert that Williams had "no basis to discharge his weapon."
Sheriff Leroy Martin of the Columbia County Sheriff's Office addressed the incident in a statement on Facebook in response to the KATV story, saying the deputy was investigated by the Arkansas State Police and cleared.
"The evidence will come out accurately; and the video will be in it's [sic] entirety and forth coming [sic]," Martin wrote. "The video will show that the Deputy was responding to a know [sic] residence as the dog aggressively came at him."
Hight told Insider that she did not know the deputies before this incident.
Per the lawsuit, Hight is suing for damages, citing medical costs as well as pain and mental anguish she said she suffered due to the incident. Hight is also suing for punitive damages, asking Williams to be disciplined to prevent similar incidents. The lawsuit asks for a monetary award for damages "exceeding $10,000,000."
"Not all cops are bad, I'm not saying that," Hight told Insider. "Just be careful, even with law enforcement, whether you're calling them for your protection or not. They do carry a gun, and some will just shoot without thinking about what they're doing. If I ever had to call the law again, I would never open my door, because I'm not going to ever stop owning my animals...I just don't want another life injured or taken over a small dog incident like this."
An attorney for the sheriff's office did not immediately respond to questions sent by Insider. The Arkansas State Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent by Insider on Sunday.