- Ohio, USA -
A West Toledo family is mourning the loss of their dog after he was killed by 68-year-old MARC R. COLEMAN (pictured below).
The Toledo Humane Society has filed felony cruelty charges against COLEMAN.
On June 29, Sierra Keck had gone to the beach with her children when she received a call from her grandfather to let her know that her 2-year-old Pitbull, DJ, also known as Scooby Doo, had died.
When Ms. Keck returned home, in the 1800 block of Brussels Street, she found DJ dead in her neighbor’s yard with his throat slashed.
The neighbor is 61-year-old LORIE STEVENSON and COLEMAN is her ex-husband.
“Blood was also visible on the side of the house and porch at the neighboring property and the dead canine lay between the two houses”, reports The Blade.
The Blade further reports that Ms. Keck’s grandfather told police he had let DJ out into the fenced backyard but did not know how DJ ended up on the neighbor’s front porch and engaged two dogs.
Ms. Keck told The Blade she believes DJ went out an open window in the home that has no screen.
COLEMAN told officers that he and his ex-wife were on the front porch when DJ attacked through a railing and would not let go of one of the other dogs.
COLEMAN told police he tried to pull DJ away and hit him in the head while STEVENSON tried to strike DJ with a broom.
COLEMAN claimed he started to lose strength and slit DJ’s throat.
Police then were able to see the incident on video as surveillance camera from a nearby home captured COLEMAN cutting DJ’s throat several times.
Additionally, as reported by The Blade, “Two juveniles from across the street showed officers cell-phone videos of the incident, at least one of which has been circulating on social media.”
According to the report, one of the videos shows COLEMAN and STEVENSON striking DJ, while another one shows COLEMAN slashing DJ’s throat then holding him after he disengaged from the other dog.
Police confiscated a folding knife as evidence.
The Lucas County Canine Care & Control responded to the scene to pick up DJ’s lifeless body and the case was then turned over to the Toledo Humane Society.
Its president and CEO Stephen Heaven, said a necropsy performed on the furbaby revealed that DJ’s major arteries and trachea had been completely severed.
Mr. Heaven explained that although DJ was not on his property and attacking another dog, Ohio law provides an exemption that makes harming a dog in such an instance a felony.
He told WTOL: “The law is quite clear. You can only kill it if it’s attacking you or is threatening you or is chasing and killing or threatening livestock. Domestic cats and dogs are not under the law, they are exempt from the law. So, in this case it was not lawful to kill the dog.”
COLEMAN, of the 500 block of Shasta Drive, is charged in Lucas County Common Pleas Court with a fifth-degree felony count of animal cruelty and a misdemeanor count of aggravated menacing.
Ms. Keck was planning to train DJ to become a therapy dog and explained: “Because of my son’s anxiety problem. It calms him down. He panics a lot. A lot. It gives him almost a sense of security. It gives him a sense of protection because it’s just me and them.”
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