Green Country Man Calls For Accountability After Off-Duty Owasso Officer Shoots, Kills His Dog

A Green Country man is heartbroken after he says his dog was shot and killed by an off-duty Owasso police officer by their homes near Turley.

That officer says the dog was on his property and attacking his cat.

Jeremy Geiger says his dog Buddy Boy was an 18-month-old Saint Bernard mix. He says Buddy Boy was joyful and full of life and could've lived to be 10 or 11.

Officer Mike Denton says he loves animals and he's not out killing random dogs, he only shot this dog to save his cat.

Geiger had Buddy Boy for a little more than a year.

He says Buddy got out sometimes but always came back, until last Saturday.

"I wasn't too concerned because he came back every time, it was not a matter of if, it was when," he said.

Geiger had an Air Tag on Buddy's collar and it started pinging in Owasso on Monday.

Geiger found Buddy's collar in a dumpster behind the Owasso Police Department.

He says he went inside and Officer Mike Denton told Jeremy that Buddy was gone.

"He said mystery solved, I know what happened to Buddy, Buddy's gone," he said.

Geiger said Officer Denton said he'd found Buddy in a place where people dump dogs, and would have called but assumed Geiger dumped the dog.

A couple of days later, Tulsa County deputies told Geiger that Officer Denton lives nearby and is the one who shot Buddy.

"He had, I don't know if admitted or told them, he relayed to them that he in fact had shot the dog," Geiger said.

Officer Denton says he and his wife rescue animals and they're taking care of 6 dogs and 13 cats.

The officer says Buddy came onto his property and he spent half an hour trying to catch Buddy, but Buddy made a beeline for the officer’s cat and the officer thought the cat was in danger, so he had to shoot the dog.

Denton says he was upset but gave the dog a proper burial.

Denton says Geiger insisted on having Buddy back, so the body was returned.

Geiger wishes Denton would've told the truth from the beginning and he wants Denton held accountable.

"I don't have hate in my heart, I don't want the man to suffer, I'm not going to seek reprisal on his animals, I love animals, but there must be consequences, there must be accountability," Geiger said.

The Owasso Police Department released the following statement: 

The Owasso Police Department is aware of an allegation made against an off-duty Owasso police officer related to the death of a dog in rural Tulsa County. OPD takes any allegation of officer misconduct very seriously. An internal/administrative investigation has been initiated and the officer has been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of that investigation. The officer was off-duty at the time of the alleged incident and the location where the alleged incident occurred is outside the City of Owasso, resulting in any criminal investigative efforts falling to the jurisdiction of the Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office.

The Tulsa County Sheriff's Office says there's nothing criminal in this case, so they are not investigating.

Officer Mike Denton's attorney released this statement:

Two stray dogs came onto Mike Denton’s private property on or about March 9, 2024. The Dentons had several pets – six rescue dogs and thirteen rescue cats. One of those cats is now missing. For more than half an hour, Mike tried to catch the stray dogs. However, he was unable to do so. After that, one of the dogs – a black and white one – went after one of Mike’s cats. Mike tried to run off the dog, but the dog refused to listen. Once he was unsuccessful, Mike retrieved a weapon because he didn’t want any of his animals mauled. The dog spotted one of the kittens – Bunny – and started to charge her. Mike yelled at the dog to stop. The dog wouldn’t stop so Mike was forced to shoot him. After that, the second dog ran away. 

The Tulsa County Sheriff’s Office (TCSO) looked into this and found that no crime had been committed. 

Mike was heartbroken that he was forced to do this. Afterward, he had to spend several minutes regaining his composure. He then took the dog to a remote location and built a cairn for its burial.