The Columbus Division of Police has released body camera footage and identified an officer who fired twice at a Rottweiler dog that charged him, striking another officer during their July 14 response to a domestic dispute on the city’s Northeast Side.
The police division said the Rottweiler shown in the police body camera footage has been euthanized, as this was the second time it had charged at police officers following a separate incident in 2023.
Columbus police released the body camera footage in the late afternoon of Friday, July 17. The footage shows two officers responding around 5:55 p.m. July 14 to the 2600 block of Divot Place in an apartment complex on a report of a domestic dispute. The 911 caller reported that her daughter was chasing her around the apartment and trying to assault her because the caller learned that her daughter had snuck a male into the home.
As the officers approached the apartment, they asked the people outside who called police. The caller, seated outside, identified herself as the person who had contacted police. She told the officers she was carrying a hammer, and one officer instructed her to throw the ball peen hammer into the grass, which she did. Seconds later, a woman and a small child emerged from the apartment.
A Rottweiler then slipped past the woman (pictured below in a still from bodycam footage) and charged toward one of the officers, and a woman can be heard saying to the officers, “Don’t shoot my dog.”
Both officers drew their weapons, the body camera footage shows. Columbus police identified Zachary Moistner, who has been with the police division for two years, as the officer who shot his partner.
The video shows Moistner firing one shot at the dog, but the gunfire hits his partner instead. It is unclear from the body camera video where the other officer was shot, but he soon falls to the ground after being struck. “You good? You good? ” Moistner can be heard saying to his partner.
Moistner fires a second shot at the dog as it runs in front of two people sitting outside, missing them and the dog, it appears.
At 5:56 p.m., the officer who was shot requests a medic for his gunshot wound. That officer, who police have not identified, has been with the Columbus Division of Police for five years.
Columbus police said the Rottweiler was shot at least once. The dog can be heard whimpering on body camera footage, but a Dispatch reporter and other members of the news media who responded to the scene that day saw the dog afterwards being led away by Franklin County Animal Control and reported no visible signs of injury.
Same Rottweiler charged at officers in 2023 incident
The Rottweiler was surrendered by its owner and humanely euthanized because of the July 14 incident and a separate incident where the dog charged at responding police in November 2023, according to Columbus police. The owner was charged with failure to control a nuisance animal, failure to prevent a nuisance act, and failing to license and vaccinate the dog.
According to body camera footage also provided by police, two officers responded just before 9:50 a.m. Nov. 24, 2023, to the 1800 block of Oakland Park Avenue when they came across the Rottweiler in a yard.
The dog charged one of the officers, who is seen jumping onto the top of a car in the parking lot of the apartment complex to avoid being bitten.
The second officer fires three times at the dog, who then runs away out of sight of the body camera. The dog is heard whimpering, although it is unclear if it was struck.
Reporter Shahid Meighan can be reached at smeighan@dispatch.com, at ShahidMeighan on X, and at shahidthereporter.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Bodycam footage shows Columbus police officer shooting at dog, hitting partner
Reporting by Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch / The Columbus Dispatch
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Shahid Meighan, Columbus Dispatch | USA TODAY Network
