Clinton Twp. man charged with wringing puppy's neck | Freep.com | Detroit Free Press
Clinton Twp. man charged with wringing puppy's neck
BY CHRISTINA HALL • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • March 31, 2009
A Clinton Township man is accused of fatally injuring a 3-month-old Yorkshire terrier puppy that apparently was trying to protect its female owner from the man’s assault.
Omar Lateef Lathon-Bey, 29, was charged with animal torture, a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, Township Police Capt. Richard Maierle said today.
Lathon-Bey was released on a $10,000 personal bond after arraignment in 41B District Court in Clinton Township. His preliminary exam is set for April 20.
Maierle said police responded to a stabbing at an apartment in the 24000 block of Lotus about 8:30 p.m. Monday. Lathon-Bey and his girlfriend, 26, apparently argued about him talking to another girl online. Lathon-Bey then started choking and punching his girlfriend, the captain said.
The approximately 3-pound puppy began nipping at Lathon-Bey’s ankles, Maierle said, and he picked up the dog and severely twisted its neck with his hands. The girlfriend then twice stabbed Lathon-Bey in the right arm with a steak knife, he said.
Maierle said Lathon-Bey was treated at Mt. Clemens Regional Medical Center. He said the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office has declined to issue a warrant charging the girlfriend with felonious assault.
Police took the puppy to Animal Emergency Hospital of Macomb in Clinton Township, where it died about 2 a.m. today, Maierle said.
Lathon-Bey told police he fell on the dog, Maierle said.
He said police have occasionally had animal abuses cases, but “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Dr. Natalie Dolan, who treated the male puppy, said the dog sustained trauma to its chest but had no broken bones. The puppy died from severe bruises on its lungs — injuries typical when dogs are hit by vehicles. She said bruising of the lungs occurs when there are injuries to the lung tissue and the lungs fill up with blood.
Dolan said the puppy went into respiratory arrest; then was euthanized.
“We tried,” she said of the efforts to save the puppy. “We treated him with oxygen and IV fluids and sugar and things like that but it was just too severe.”