Woodward Township releases officer’s body cam video in dog-shooting incident

DUNNSTOWN, PA – The Woodward Township supervisors held a special meeting Monday to provide an update on a June 23 dog-shooting incident involving a township police officer.

The meeting followed a report from Clinton County District Attorney Dave Strouse on the incident in which a free-running pit-bull dog was shot and killed as it charged a township police officer. In that report the district attorney wrote that the officer in question acted responsibly under the circumstances, resulting in the death of the dog.

The meeting saw the playing of the video from the officer’s bodycam. It showed him responding to a call about free-running dogs off Coudersport Pike. The officer approached the house of the dog owner and knocked on the door and, hearing no response, returned to his cruiser parked along the nearby highway. Two dogs approached the officer on two occasions, barking at him as he tried to get them to relent. The second time one of the dogs continued at the officer as he stood by his cruiser, resulting in his firing his handgun at the animal.

Supervisor chairman Kyle Coleman conducted the meeting before a jammed township meeting room. He defended how the township handled its probe into the shooting incident, stating “There is nothing we would change.” He said the incident never would have happened had the dog’s owner, Jada Harpster, had control of her dogs. Harpster and some of those who supported her at an earlier township meeting were among those in attendance. They disputed a portion of the incident investigation, claiming that Harpster had not been the dog owner in some earlier free-running dog citations.

The session lasted one hour and heard critical comments from Coleman towards the Lock Haven Express and the Clinton County Watch Dog group for their handling of the incident. He said he was “baffled” at the information printed in The Express in its coverage of an earlier meeting; he said information in the paper “was not how it happened,” that police had only responded because the dogs were running loose. He said printed comments from attendees after that earlier meeting “stirred up” the issue. He was critical of the Watch Dog group and comments posted on the closed organization’s Facebook page, saying the matter was “stirred up” and could have been handled differently.

Two Watch Dog representatives present, Michele Whitney and Michael Remick, defended their coverage of the incident and chided the township for waiting several days before releasing any information.

Several meeting attendees voiced support for how the township handled the matter. David Hunter, a neighbor near the Harpster residence, noted there had been recurring incidents with the dogs and said he had “nothing but respect” for the township response to the matter. Duane Allison, who said he had been involved in investigations during his 25 years at Lock Haven University, said “I commend you,” noting “a sense of decorum” in the process, not slandering people. He said involving the county district attorney in the matter was “a great idea.”