- Florida, USA -
Deputies with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office arrested 46-year-old RICHARD KYLE NELSON (pictured below) after he used a machete to slash a defenseless dog several times.
The incident happened on Friday, July 9, in the backyard of a home on 1931 Jungle Road in New Smyrna Beach.
According to a news release by the sheriff’s office, the dog’s guardian told deputies that NELSON was in the backyard and attacked her dog after she let him outside.
The day after the incident, a Volusia County Animal Services officer contacted the Sheriff’s Office with video surveillance footage that captured the act.
The video showed the dog roaming the yard until he ran past NELSON and growled.
At that point, NELSON can be seen picking up a machete and charging at the dog while throwing something at him.
The news release states that NELSON “continued to chase the dog around the yard and started slashing at him while the owner yelled for him to leave the dog alone.”
NELSON totally ignored the woman and “continued to chase and slash at the dog, pursuing him into a wooded area and into thick brush.”
The video contradicted NELSON’s version claiming he was just sitting in the backyard when the dog attacked him and bit him in the chest and therefore, he acted in self-defense.
The sheriff’s office said Animal Services took custody of the dog and he then received emergency medical care for wounds to his back and face.
“He was able to be up and walking around shortly after the incident”, states the news release.
As for NELSON, he is listed as transient with no permanent address but on Friday, July 16, he was spotted by an off-duty Edgewater Police Department K-9 officer and taken into custody by a deputy on his felony warrant.
NELSON was then booked at the Volusia County Branch Jail on a felony animal cruelty charge and providing false information to a law enforcement officer.
Online records show NELSON was released the following day.
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