An Arkansas woman has accused a Columbia County Sheriff’s Department deputy of shooting her while trying to shoot her Pomeranian dog after she called 911 for help.
Tina Hight, who has filed a lawsuit against Deputy Brian Williams and retired Columbia County Sheriff Mike Loe, recently told local ABC affiliate KATV that Williams shot her in August 2022 and the bullet is still lodged in her shin.
Hight told the outlet that she’s experienced anxiety and had to go to frequent doctor’s appointments after the incident.
The suit says the deputy was “in no danger whatsoever from the animal” and had “no basis to discharge his weapon.”
In bodycam footage of the incident obtained by KATV, Williams is heard shouting at the dog on Hight’s porch as he stands a short distance away.
“Get back, get your dog, I’ll kill this ************. Get your godd**n dog,” he says, according to KATV.
Williams is heard firing a warning shot before yelling, “You better get back. I’ll kill this.” He then fires a shot, appearing to aim at the dog.
“You just shot me,” Hight, who is next to another deputy, screams as she falls on her porch.
“I shot who?” the deputy asked.
Williams denies shooting Hight after another woman on the scene says, “You shot my aunt.”
“I didn’t shoot her,” he replies.
Hight and Williams exchange words as they argue over the incident, which she later described as “very scary” to KATV.
“I have never been shot before…I didn’t know…I knew I was hit, I didn’t know how bad, I didn’t understand,” Hight told the outlet.
The deputy later in the video claims one of Hight’s dogs scratched her.
Hight told KATV that she’s “nervous to ever call the police again,” adding, “I expected him to come for my protection and instead I was the victim.”
Hight’s attorney, Tre Kitchens, said it’s “by the grace of God” that she wasn’t killed in the incident, per KATV.
“He missed, he didn’t hit the dog, and instead shot my client…with his fellow deputy standing about eight inches from my client,” said Kitchens. “We’re also alleging that the sheriff of Columbia County clearly did not train him, did not educate him, and if that kind of behavior is appropriate in Columbia County there’s a bigger issue with that department in general.”
Sheriff Leroy Martin responded to KATV’s reporting in a Facebook post on Thursday, clarifying that he was not the sheriff at the time and that the deputy was cleared of wrongdoing after an investigation by the Arkansas State Police.
“The evidence will come out accurately; and the video will be in it’s [sic] entirety and forth coming [sic],” he wrote. “The video will show that the Deputy was responding to a know[n] residence as the dog aggressively came at him.”
“The Deputy was cleared by The Arkansas State Police and The Prosecutor’s Office of any wrongdoing in this incident,” Martin added. “This Incident was handled by the previous Sheriff, and I too WILL stand with Our Deputy on this matter.”
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Department didn’t immediately respond to JS’s request for comment.