PITT COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) – The owner of a dog training and boarding facility in the east is speaking out after two of her dogs were shot and killed by a State Highway Patrol Trooper Saturday.
Lydia Nikac has been building her dog training business VoraciousMalinoisKennelsNC for years, specializing in agility and K-9 training.
It was at first a quiet Saturday morning for Nikac. She was taking care of her dogs at her property on Clarks Neck Road when she noticed someone going through her car.
“I was afraid he was going to end up finding something in the vehicle, a weapon or a knife,” said Nikac. “And I pulled him out of the vehicle and Bonnie and Clyde helped.”
Nikac was able to detain the person breaking into her car, who has been identified as Kevin Toler of Washington by the Pitt County Sheriff’s Office.
Her dogs, Bonnie and Clyde, were circling Nikac and Toler to prevent Toler from running off when a State Trooper who was responding to a nearby accident stopped by and got out of his car. Nikac said she asked the trooper to stay off her property. The trooper took a step forward, which made Clyde run toward him.
This prompted the trooper to fire his gun. Highway Patrol says the trooper did this in self-defense.
However, Nikac and her neighbors say the dogs did not pose a threat to him.
“Clyde was trying to get away. He kept shooting. I don’t know where he went after that, and then Bonnie ran over because she didn’t know somebody was there, and she heard the gunshots, so she went to go say hi,” said Nikac. “She looked up, and he had a clear shot, and he shot her in the heart. When she tried to go around, he kept shooting and shooting.”
Nikac says Bonnie and Clyde were the foundation of her business and her life. They were lovable and obedient. She says they were trained to know and respect officers in uniform.
“I can’t live my life without those two. They were everything to me,” said Nikac. “They were also my demo dogs, and now I’ve got nothing to show for.”
Neighbors also found the dogs to be friendly to others.
“They were approachable. They were the nicest dogs in the world. You really couldn’t ask for anything better than them,” said Dylan Wetteland, who has been friends with Nikac for years.
Nikac and her neighbors say they heard multiple shots fired during the incident, even while they could see the dogs running away from the trooper.
Both Bonnie and Clyde died from their injuries. Pitt County deputies arrived afterwards.
WITN reached out to Highway Patrol after speaking with Nikac and her neighbors about the circumstances of the incident.
According to Highway Patrol, the trooper had the right to defend himself under North Carolina law. The trooper felt the only alternative way to protect himself from the dogs at that moment was by firing his gun.
The Pitt County Sheriff’s Office arrested Toler, who is charged with felony breaking and entering into a motor vehicle, attempted breaking or entering and a misdemeanor assault on a female. He is being held at the Pitt County Detention Center without bond.
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