An incident happened on August 21 between the Mendenhall Police Department and Kasey Wigley’s pet pit bull Ratchet. Mendenhall Police officers were called by Wigley’s neighbor to report a nuisance dog that was harassing their children. The dog was allegedly hindering the children from playing in their yard and was charging in an aggressive manner. Wigley claims that her dog was shot at three times with one shot being fired near her front door steps.
Ratchet sustained two bullet wounds after being struck in her mussel and right shoulder. Wigley said she arrived on the scene at 2:30 p.m. She described seeing blood pooled near her front door step and a chunk of concrete was missing where she believed the third shot was fired. Wigley was not present for the shooting but she alleged that after the initial two shots were fired the officer took a third shot near her door step. This alleged third shot is what she believes struck Ratchet in the shoulder.
She said that her dog was not in sight when she arrived, and that the officer informed her that he was going to seize her remaining dogs. Wigley said she was assessed a dog at large citation and was subsequently arrested for old fines. Wigley claims to have spent less than two hours in jail before meeting the conditions of her release. She said she immediately called the Mendenhall Police Department to investigate the seizure of her pets. She was informed that they were still at her home.
According to Wigley Ratchet hid under their home. Kasey believes the officer, who she named as Brandon Dearman of Mendenhall Police Department, poked at the dog with a board in attempts to get her out.
Wigley explained that Ratchet came from under their house at 9:00 p.m. Her family sought medical attention immediately. They drove Ratchet to the Animal Emergency and Referral Center in Flowood. According to Wigley, Ratchet would go on to have two surgeries. Wigley explained that Ratchet had her right leg amputated, bullet fragments and teeth extracted from her mouth, and pieces of bone removed from her sinuses. She said that her vet expenses came to a total of $4,100. A GoFundMe page was started, and it raised $250 for “Ratchets Vet Bill”.
Mendenhall Mayor Todd Booth and Police Chief Candy McCullum addressed the incident with video evidence. The officer who responded to the call was wearing an active body cam. The video showed the officer arriving at the address of the callers and asking where the nuisance dog was. The caller pointed towards Wigley’s resident which appeared to be approximately 15 yards away. The officer started toward that direction, and before he cleared the caller’s property two dogs charged towards him barking. Startled, he began moving backwards, he drew his weapon, and fired two shots. The lead dog, which appeared to be Ratchet, was hit and retreated towards Wigley’s yard before the video ended. The shots were fired at pointblank range.
Mayor Todd Booth said, “We’ve reviewed the video from start to finish, and it was two dogs that charged him. He didn’t shoot until they got close to him. We’ve watched the body cam and he did nothing wrong.”
Booth said that the officer did try to get the dog to come from under the house to see how bad it was hurt. He attests that once the owner (Wigley) saw the video she apologized for her dog’s behavior.
Wigley admitted to seeing only a segment of the video, and said that the initial shots were not fired on her property, but she believes a third shot was fired near her door step. Wigley said, “I asked them had this been a Chihuahua would they have done the same thing, they said no because a Chihuahua wouldn’t have been a threat.”
When asked about Ratchet’s adjustment after surgery Wigley said, “She is getting around pretty good, and getting used to having 3 legs. She won’t leave my side though.” No legal action has been taken at this time, but Wigley said she has filed a complaint against the officer.
