Caffeinated Politics

There are stories that drift across the Wisconsin newswire and barely register, and then there are the ones that make you stop mid‑sip of morning coffee and mutter, “Oh, for crying out loud.” The body‑cam footage of a Wisconsin officer unloading sixteen shots at two stray dogs falls squarely into the latter category.

A Thiensville officer, Richard C. McCormick, resigned during an internal investigation. The shooting is now under review by the Ozaukee County District Attorney’s Office. One dog was killed, the other injured.

Before I move on to the background of this story, let me ask a question. What does it say about the system that allows an officer to resign, slip out the side door, trying to avoid the full weight of public scrutiny? Resignation is not accountability. It’s an escape hatch. I do not want this investigation to end with a resignation letter and a shrug. Because if we can’t get justice right when the victims are two dogs, what hope is there when the stakes are even higher?

On April 23, 2026, Mequon police responded to a call shortly after 1 a.m. for two loose dogs at Highland and Cedarburg Roads. The Mequon officers decided to return in the morning, when they could seek help from the humane society. 

About two hours later, McCormick saw the dogs at the same intersection, outside his jurisdiction. McCormick stopped and tried to capture them. He was not responding to a new 911 call or other request for help. He was aware of the earlier call about the dogs.

Body camera footage showed the dogs bounding toward McCormick after he opened a rear door of his squad.

The officer fired at least two shots near the ground, in what he later said was an attempt to scare the dogs. Video showed the dogs running away and McCormick continuing to fire across the road, even after one of the dogs collapsed on the ground and howled.

Six minutes later, McCormick fired a final shot from close range to euthanize the dog on the ground. The other dog escaped into the woods.

“I don’t like shooting animals,” McCormick said on body camera on April 23.

Two hours before the shooting, a separate Mequon body camera video shows officers were called for a report of two stray pit bulls — and let them go.

“You’re fine. Go be free,” a Mequon officer told the stray dogs.

A police report written by McCormick states he feared he was about to be attacked and bitten. Animal rights advocates argue the footage shows his life was not in danger, especially when both dogs tried to run away.

The footage is as unsettling as it is absurd. As summer is here, it would be akin to swatting a mosquito with a sledgehammer. Policing in Wisconsin already sits under a microscope, not because people dislike officers, but because they expect competence, restraint, and a basic understanding that not every situation requires a hail of bullets.

This incident isn’t about dogs, though the dogs deserved far better. It’s about judgment. It’s about training. It’s about whether departments across the state are equipping officers to handle the full spectrum of real‑world encounters, be they mental‑health crises or loose pets, without defaulting to force. And it’s about whether leadership is willing to say, out loud, that this was unacceptable.

Wisconsin communities deserve policing that reflects the values we claim to hold as citizens of the state. I think most of us are calm, measured, humane, rooted in common sense rather than whatever this officer was hyped up on. When I watched the video, I saw panic with a badge, and pretending otherwise only deepens the divide between law enforcement and the people they are to serve.

Sixteen shots for two strays. It’s a sentence that none of us should need to read or hear in the news. If this state wants to move forward, it starts with the simplest expectation. After watching the video, viewers across the state shouldn’t have to ask whether the officer or the dogs had a better grasp of the situation.