Davenport officer who shot dog in Aug. 21 incident accused of running over dog a month before (2024)

A Davenport police officer killed two dogs in separate incidents this summer, according to the dogs' owners.

Video footage posted online last week shows an officer shooting and killing a barking dog with two kids and a mom nearby. A petition circulating onlineand shared by the dog's owner calls for accountability for Davenport Police Officer Ethan Bock.

And a little more than a month before last week's incident, Bock struck and killed another resident's unleashed dog with his police vehicle while driving through an alley, according to the dog's owners and bodycam footage obtained by the Quad-City Times.

Asked to confirm if Bock was the same officer in the Aug. 21 incident, the Davenport Police Department didn't say.

"We are aware of the information circulating on social media and are sensitive to the concerns of our community. The Davenport Police Department is conducting a comprehensive review of the incident," the department wrote in an emailed statement. "At this time, it would be premature to speculate on the results of the internal review, but the department is committed to sharing more information to include additional video once the review has been completed."

A devastating call for a dog owner

Lacindra Spears was out of town on the night of July 13, when she got a devastating call.

Her dog Muneca was hit and killed by a squad car driven by Bock in the alleyway behind her home.

For more than a week, Spears said the department gave her and her family differing stories about what happened. Spears said she was told her witnesses were "not credible."

Then, on July 30, the police department offered her $1,700 for her dog, Spears said in an interview that same day.

At the time, Spears said it was not enough to replace her dog or make up for the disrespect she feels she and her family faced.

The Davenport Police Department wrote in an Aug. 26 email: "This incident was resolved with the help of Ms. Spears."

Muneca could recognize when Spears had hemiplegic migraines, which cause paralyzing symptoms that mimic a stroke. Muneca would nudge her head up until someone, usually her brother, came to check on her, Spears said in a July 30 interview.

Because of the debilitating symptoms, which developed in recent years, Spears said she lost her ability to drive, lost her home, closed her business on Harrison Street and began staying there until she could figure out another living situation.

"I needed that dog," Spears said. "All the stuff I've been going through— I lost my business— she was what I had left."

On July 13, Spears' brother, C'edward Spears, was taking out the trash at about 10 p.m. to the alleyway behind the Harrison Street buildings where he and Lacindra live.

At the same time, another brother was taking Muneca out to do her business.

They all were in the alleyway when Davenport police vehicles drove through.

C'edward Spears said in a July 30 interview he tried to stop the police cars so Muneca could cross safely. The first one slowed and allowed the dog to cross before continuing. But the second officer did not heed his warning.

"He comes speeding down, so I stepped in front of the police car, I say, 'stop' so the dog can come out so he stops," C'edward Spears said. "The dog goes out into the field and a few seconds go by, and another police car, he comes up speeding as well, and by this time the dog has used the bathroom already and is on the way back. I step out again. I'm like, 'stop — the dog.' So he stops. He acknowledges me. Then he speeds up and he goes."

Bodycam footage shows aftermath

Video requested by the Quad-City Times through a Freedom of Information Act request does not show the moment the police officer's vehicle struck the dog.

But the department did supply this past week three videos from different officers' body cameras just after the incident. A records department staffer said there was no dash camera footage because the vehicle's emergency red and blue lights were not on, which triggers the dash camera to record.

In one 17-minute body camera video from the officer that hit the dog, Bock, he can be seen getting out of the car and approaching the dog lying on the ground.

"God dammit," he said before speaking into his radio asking for a public service response to the alley.

Several witnesses stood in the alley, the video shows. One man stood with his hands clasped over his forehead. Another had his hands on his hips.

"Let me get on with a sergeant all right?" Bock said.

C'edward Spears can be seen walking over to Muneca with his hand over his mouth in shock.

"That's why you gotta' have your dog on a leash bro," Bock said.

Bock typed on his phone and could be heard saying: "Hey, I'm 10-2. Some frickin' dog just ran out here, and I smoked it."

A person off camera asked Bock to get his badge, a paper, and pen and make a report.

Bock repeated his situation into his phone or radio: "I hit a dog in the alley between Harrison and Ripley just south of 14th."

Someone off camera can be heard telling the officer, "You know better than to go in this alley."

Bock responded: "You gotta' have your dog restrained, man."

Another person asked Bock what the procedure is. Bock told him animal control will come pick up the dog.

"I'm very sorry," Bock said to the man, who was bent over Muneca.

After a few minutes, another officer approached. Bock exited his vehicle and the second officer asked Bock, "These guys acting up?"

Bock responded: "No, they're upset. I smoked their dog by accident."

Bock approached the bystanders and told them his sergeant would come talk to them. He said, "Animal control is not going to respond at night to get him, but they will respond tomorrow to pick him up unless you guys want to do anything different."

C'edward Spears told Bock the dog is his sister's.

"Well, I feel horrible," Bock said to him. "But I was enroute to something really important."

The Davenport Police Department did not respond to a question about why Bock was using the alleyway.

A sergeant arrived and Bock and another officer stood talking for a few minutes.

The sergeant told Bock: "You've gotta say that different on the radio."

"Say what different?" Bock asked.

"You said you smoked a dog," the sergeant said.

"Oh I did?" Bock asked.

"Yeah," the sergeant said.

The person off camera asked if animal control knew about the dog already. One of the policemen responded yes, and that they would probably come tomorrow.

But in the July 30 interview, Lacindra and C'edward Spears said when animal control officials came, they said they don't pick up deceased animals. They'd come to scan the dog for a chip or check for a tag to try to find the owners.

The Spears family paid $200 for Muneca to be cremated.

Lacindra Spears got a call that night at 2:30 a.m. from someone with the police department. She said he offered condolences, said she should be able to see a tape of what happened, and that someone would get back to her the following Monday.

But she said no one called. So she called the police department and was directed to a voicemail. Then, she said her calls to the police department started to go unanswered.

On July 23, she got a call back.

"I told him exactly what all five people told me," Lacindra Spears said. "Right off the bat, he goes, 'Well, that's not what happened. This is not gonna come out in your favor. Your witnesses are not credible. What happened was—' And then I tell you, he gave me a whole tuck and roll on how the dog got stuck, so I'm listening to the details of his version of what happened, and I said, so you've seen the tape? He said no. I said was you there? I said, how you know then?"

Lacindra Spears said the police frequently drive through the alley behind where she lives without lights or sirens on, and the person on the phone told her that they were on an eluding call and had initiated a chase. Then, she said she was told that the officers were only going 16 miles per hour.

The whole incident has been incredibly stressful, Lacindra Spears said. She wasn't eating. She slept on her couch because she used to sleep in her bedroom with Mun.

One month later, another dog was killed

Just over a month after Muneca was killed, on Aug. 21, Don Hesseltine’s dog — a 2-year-old golden retriever and German shepherd mix named Myst — was shot and killed by a Davenport police officer.

Footage of the event, from two separate angles, was shared on social media by Hesseltine last week. By zooming in on the officer's name tag in that footage, Hesseltine said that he's concluded that Bock was the officer that shot Myst. He has not heard from police about the identity of the officer.

The footage shared online shows a police vehicle approach Hesseltine’s son, his son's cousin and the dog, while the boys ride bicycles in the alley behind Hesseltine’s home.

According to a news release shared on Aug. 22, police responded to investigate a report of four dogs at large, appearing to act aggressive and attempting to get over the caller’s fence and reach their dog.

Hesseltine wasn’t there at the time of the incident, but said the officer, Bock, rolled down the window to let the boys know they had to put Myst on a leash. After the conversation, the boys dropped their bikes in the alley and began walking toward the house alongside the dog, the footage shows.

In the videos Hesseltine released, the dog runs back toward Bock, barking. Brandy Russell, the mother of Hesseltine's son, and one of the boys start to follow the dog towards the officer. Bock at first bends down and the dog stops barking, but then begins again. Bock backs up and moves his right hand towards his hip. The dog follows him and then the officer extends his hand and there are two gunshots.

Myst then ran back through the yard toward the house and falls over.

Hesseltine said that Myst did not bite the officer.

The release from the department does not reference any injuries to the officer, but says that the dog’s behavior “became aggressive, resulting in the officer discharging his firearm at the dog.”

Hesseltine is still frustrated over the officer’s handling of the incident, and has circulated a petition on social media that calls for Bock to be reprimanded. The petition has more than 1,300 signatures as of Tuesday morning. It was started, Hesseltine said, by a stranger to the family who reached out and offered to help.

"We don't want him on the streets anymore, man," Hesseltine said. "Nobody does. I've had 100 people reach out to me."

Spears called for discipline for officer

On July 30, the police department met with Lacindra Spears and her mother and offered her $1,700, the price that Lacindra Spears paid for Muneca.

But Lacindra Spears said it wasn't enough. She wanted to know what disciplinary action the officer would face.

Lacindra Spears questioned why she was told her witnesses were not credible and said it was indicative of how people who live near her or look like her are treated by the police.

"I'm just never gonna get over the fact that why is y'all saying what we say don't matter man," Lacindra Spears said. "Why don't we ever f***ing matter? Why are we not credible? Why the hell is it not credible? ... The police not always right. That badge does not carry more weight than a Black man's truth."

Reporter Gannon Hanevold contributed to this article.