Sheriff’s Deputy Involved in Dog Shooting Fired

By Travis Volz

The Washington County Sheriff’s Department deputy involved in the shooting of a neighbor’s dogs was terminated by Sheriff Len Campbell.

Craig McDaniel, who was not criminally charged in the case, had been on administrative leave since the incident in January.

According to Campbell, McDaniel was fired based on an administrative review by WCSD. McDaniel has filed a union grievance with the Fraternal Order of Police challenging his termination.

Campbell says that the arbitrator can decide to reinstate McDaniel or uphold his firing. There is no timetable for the arbitration hearing, and McDaniel is not being paid.

The incident in question occured in January, when McDaniel’s neighbor Jennifer Akers accused him of shooting and killing two family dogs that had slipped their collars.

A post by Akers on Facebook ignited a social media firestorm. The Perry County Sheriff’s Department was tasked with performing an investigation, but McDaniel was not indicted in a grand jury hearing in March.

McDaniel had been a deputy with the sheriff’s department for four years.