Sturgeon Agrees to $500,000 Settlement After Cop Fatally Shoots Owner’s Disabled Dog
Sturgeon will pay $500,000 after a police officer shot a blind, deaf pet dog named Teddy.
The small city of Sturgeon, Missouri (population ~900), has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a federal lawsuit filed by Nicholas Hunter after one of its police officers fatally shot his blind and deaf 13-year-old Shih Tzu mix, Teddy, in May 2024. Officer Myron Woodson fired a single round into the 13-pound dog after responding to a call about a stray roaming a lawn. Body-camera footage that went viral showed Teddy wagging his tail and wandering slowly before Woodson shot him, claiming the animal posed a public-safety threat or needed to be euthanized humanely. The officer later stated he believed Teddy was seriously injured and suffering.
Hunter sued the city in 2024, alleging failure to properly train and supervise its officers in handling animals. Under the settlement announced on November 18, 2025, Hunter will receive $282,500, with the remaining $217,500 covering legal fees. The city admitted no wrongdoing but agreed to the payout to avoid a trial.
The incident had triggered nationwide outrage when the unedited body-cam video surfaced, showing Teddy’s final moments and the dog’s agonized yelp after being shot. Animal-rights groups, including the Animal Legal Defense Fund (which helped fund Hunter’s lawsuit), condemned the killing as unnecessary and preventable.
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Hunter welcomed the resolution but stressed that no amount of money could replace Teddy. “Teddy was a good dog who did not deserve this,” his legal team said in a statement. “We hope other departments will learn from this and train their officers better so events like this don’t happen again.”
The settlement is one of the largest ever awarded in the U.S. for the police shooting of a companion animal and has renewed calls for mandatory de-escalation and animal-encounter training for law-enforcement agencies nationwide. Sturgeon officials have not commented on whether new training protocols have been implemented in the wake of the case.
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