PROSPERITY, S.C. — Investigators have released the charges a man is facing after they say he shot and killed a police dog in Newberry County on June 11.
The Lexington County Sheriff's Department, which acted as the independent investigating agency, said 37-year-old James Robert Peterson of Prosperity was charged with cruelty to a police dog, breach of peace, possession of a weapon by a person convicted of certain crimes, resisting arrest with a deadly weapon and four counts of pointing and presenting a firearm at a person.
The charges follow an encounter between Peterson, deputies with the Newberry County Sheriff's Office and agents with the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) on Gravel Road near Prosperity. Authorities said law enforcement was attempting to arrest Peterson on a felony warrant when he failed to follow commands and shot SLED K-9 Coba with a shotgun as the dog tried to apprehend him.
Sheriff Jay Koon said his department consulted with Eighth Judicial Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo and determined the charges against Peterson. The sheriff said the four counts of pointing and presenting a firearm at a person stem from Peterson pointing the shotgun in the direction of four officers after killing Coba.
Solicitor Stumbo will be prosecuting the case. Peterson is jailed at the Newberry County Detention Center.