TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) - A Tallahassee man is out on animal cruelty charges after an exam revealed his pitbull had two fractured ribs and bruising on its head from blunt force trauma.
Mekhi Deandre McGuyver, 22, has been charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty.
On Nov. 11, an officer with Tallahassee Animal Control responded to a home on Holmes Street for a report of a dog improperly tethered outside.
While on scene, the office observed the front window to the house was open where he could hear a dog crying loudly in pain, according to a probable cause document.
As the dog cried, the officer saw a man bent over it, repeatedly swinging his arms down as if striking something. Each time the man swung down, the dog would cry in pain as if being hit.
The officer tried to take video of the incident but had difficulty because of poor lighting, the distance of the subjects and background noise caused by his vehicle running nearby. Documents say his three short videos ended up of "poor quality with background noise and grainy footage." But in one video the dog can be heard crying out in apparent pain.
As a Tallahassee Police Department officer responded to the scene and was getting out of his patrol vehicle to assist in the investigation, two men approached the officer and the animal control officer and started talking about a stray dog attacking their dogs.
Documents say the animal control officer recognized one of the men as the person he saw hitting the dog earlier. The officer then interviewed McGuyver, who denied hitting the dog, but agreed to bring it outside for him to inspect it.
Both officers noted the injuries on the dog were consistent with it being hit, so the animal control officer told McGuyver he was seizing the dog, a gray pitbull named Hercules.
Documents say the officer also told McGuyver could ultimately be arrested for animal cruelty. McGuyver appeared shocked, according to court documents, and said, "Can I ask you what's the difference between discipline and animal cruelty?"
"[The animal control officer] explained the difference was McGuyver was hitting the dog so loud he could hear it from the street," the probable cause document said.
The dog was transported to a shelter for an evaluation. A veterinarian told officers her examination found that the dog's injuries included multiple bruises on its ears, head, and abdomen that were consistent with blunt force trauma.
The dog had two fractured ribs, one on the right side that appeared to be 2-4 weeks old, the court document said, and another on its left side that appeared to be over 4-6 weeks old.
Based on the exam, the veterinarian determined that the dog was a victim of animal cruelty.
According to court documents, McGuyver tried unsuccessfully to reclaim the dog on Nov. 21, by filing a Lost Dog Report with the shelter.
On Monday, McGuyver was arrested and charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty. He was then released on a $1,000 bond under the condition that he not possess any pets.
Document say the Animal Shelter is filing a civil petition for custody of the dog to coincide with the criminal investigation.
