Former officer speaks out after K-9 Blitz’s death during traffic stop in Wadesboro

WADESBORO, N.C. — Former Wadesboro Police Officer Kayla Wright, following a superior’s command, deployed K-9 Blitz—trained for narcotics and tracking but not yet certified for suspect apprehension—during a chaotic traffic stop, leading to the dog’s tragic death and sparking community outrage over the handling of the incident.

Wright showed Channel 9 the bite mark on her hand where Blitz had held on.

She says the entire incident was caught on her body camera video that she later watched.

“It was about 4 minutes of me begging somebody. ‘Grab his collar. You just have to grab his collar like you just have to choke him off that’s all you have to do,’” she said. “People saying, ‘No. No. I’m not touching the dog.’”

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“A Taser went off and he immediately came off,” Wright said. “Another one went off out of nowhere, and it kind of shocked me.”

Wright says an officer then fired shots at the dog and missed.

“He wasn’t aggressive or any means like that,” Wright said. “He was coming back to his handler. And I was ready to grab him when rounds started going off. It was an utter chaos situation. Caught me by surprise. I was screaming, ‘Hey. Down. Down. Down!’ Because I’m thinking if he stops moving, the rounds stop flying.”

Dispatch audio: “Shots fired.”

“Copy. shots fired.”

“Officer bit.”

Wright says a video captured by the suspect’s sister shows the moments after shots were fired at Blitz.

Former officer speaks out after K-9 Blitz’s death during traffic stop in Wadesboro Part 2

“The suspect, I believe he kicked or moved, something happened,” Wright said. “He re-engaged, and I immediately called him off. He immediately listened. He banked left and came to me as he was coming back to me. I’m reaching down to grab him, and shots go off again. It was a mess after that. He got hit, and you could hear the yelps. I kept screaming. ‘My dog. My dog. My dog.’”

Dispatch audio: “Multiple shots fired. K-9 down. Shot by officers.”

Wright says it was dark, and Blitz ran off.

When she found him, she says he was dying and asked for an officer to put him down.

“It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do,” Wright said.

Wright says it was an awful morning and doesn’t know if fear played a role in the officer firing the deadly shots.

“I can’t answer for him,” she said. “I don’t know why he did what he did. But I’m angry. I’m upset because my dog could still be here.”

She also feels conflicted about allowing Blitz to get involved in apprehending a suspect.

Before that night, she says he hadn’t done that type of work at Wadesboro PD.

She says he had only been used at the department for narcotics, tracking, and searches.

Esposito asked Wright, “Looking back, are you thinking you should have obeyed that order and not released him?”

“Yeah, 100%,” Wright said. “The way I look at it, hindsight is 20/20. If I had disobeyed that order, maybe I would have been a write-up. It probably would have been a write-up. I disobeyed an order from a sergeant, but my dog would still be here.”

Blitz’s training

Wright says the incident was the first time Blitz was deployed to apprehend a suspect with the Wadesboro Police Department.

She says they had been doing apprehension training, but she wasn’t planning to do that work in the field until they were both certified.

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“He slept in our living room. He was a part of my family as much as anyone else. He will remain that,” Wright said. “I’d take him in a truck to pick up my son from daycare. That’s how good of a dog he was. He was part of our family.”

Wright says she became his handler in January after his former owner, Josh Harrington, donated Blitz to the Wadesboro Police Department.

“He advised to build a bond with the dog. He’s had some rough times. Start building a bond,” Wright said.

Harrington told Channel 9 that Blitz was to be used for narcotics and tracking only, and not for apprehension.

Esposito later learned Blitz had previously worked for the Virginia State Police.

The agency told Channel 9 that Blitz was trained in apprehension but was removed from its program for unwarranted aggression issues.

Wright says she wasn’t aware of Blitz’s past but says Blitz was great on calls involving narcotics, tracking, and doing searches.

“We went to a lot of calls,” she said. “We tracked a missing juvenile. We tracked suspects that have beaten their wives and girlfriends and run off into the woods. I mean, we’ve done a lot. Jump-and-runs on suspects. We’ve run tracks on that. He was amazing at tracking.”

Wright says that in March, she enrolled Blitz in a training program so he could be certified as a dual-purpose dog and do apprehension work.

“They did that evaluation they gave me,” Wright said. “Hey, he’s very clear-headed. His bite work looks good, but he doesn’t have an out. And he loves the toys, so the guy said, ‘Hey, if you always have that toy present, he’s going to come off that bite for that toy.’”

The course was six weeks.

Wright says she wasn’t planning to use Blitz for apprehension until they were certified as a team, which is not required in North Carolina.

That didn’t go as planned on April 2 when Blitz died.

Town turmoil

Esposito traveled to Wadesboro hours after the incident.

The interim police chief confirmed the dog’s death but did not go into detail. The next day, he didn’t respond to our calls.

Wright says she wished he had shared more.

The following week, the community stormed a council meeting demanding transparency from the town and the police department.

“I truly feel that if something was put out, even a day later, the community wouldn’t have been in such an uproar,” Wright said. “They just wanted answers. They just wanted to be part of it like we do.”

Channel 9 reported last week that Wadesboro Interim Police Chief Jason Eschert filed a lawsuit against Blitz’s former owner, Harrington.

In the suit, Eschert accuses Harrington of making and repeating false and defamatory statements orally, on social media, and to news outlets.

“I felt like Josh was trying to do the right thing,” Wright says. “He was trying to stand up for his community. He just went about it the wrong way. He didn’t have the right information. We have since talked. He has apologized. I have no ill will for him.”

Wright says she wants to put the situation to rest, so she can focus on mourning Blitz.

“All of his toys are in there,” she says. “I don’t think I’ll ever take that down. If I do receive his remains, I’ll put it on the mantle above his kennel.”

Wright had been with the department for seven months and said she resigned instead of being terminated last week.

She says that despite the incident, she still hopes to continue her career in law enforcement.

VIDEO: No charges in K-9 Blitz’s death amid resignations and lawsuit