BEDFORD – A warrant was issued for the arrest of a Bedford man on an intimidation charge after Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department deputies responded to a call in the 20 block of Locust Road.
According to Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department Deputy James, who arrived at the residence on February 26, 2024, a woman reported that 65-year-old Douglas Prather was walking his dog west on Erie Church Road when the dog wandered onto the woman’s property. She recorded the incident on her phone. She and Prather got into an argument due to previous altercations.
Prather was cleaning up after his dog when he yelled at the woman and pulled a gun from his left back pocket. He transferred the holster to his right, removed the weapon from the holster, and yelled at the woman to bring her dog outside and he would shoot it. Police say the video does not show Prather threatening the woman with the weapon.
The woman had a second video showing Prather walking north on Locust Road and standing in the road in front of her dog, which was chained to a tree. In that video, both exchanged words. The woman thought it possible that Prather was attempting to bait her dog to come closer so he could shoot it.
Lawrence County Animal Control had dealt with both parties in the past. During one of those incidents, there is a video of Prather poking the woman’s dog with a stick, trying to provoke it.
The woman said Prather had never threatened her, just her dog. She told police she didn’t like Prather because he had previously taken her to court over her dog and won.
Officers then went to Prather’s home in the 3000 block of Erie Church Road. He told police he carries a 38-snub nose when he walks his dog due to past problems of dogs running loose in the area.
The information was forwarded to the Lawrence County Prosecutor’s Office, and a warrant was issued for Prather’s arrest on an intimidation charge.
