In this screenshot, a man is seen hitting his dog in Caldwell. The man has since been issued a misdemeanor citation for animal cruelty and has been assigned a court date.
In this screenshot, a man is seen hitting his dog in Caldwell. The man has since been issued a misdemeanor citation for animal cruelty and has been assigned a court date.
CALDWELL — The Caldwell man who was recorded allegedly abusing his dog over the weekend has been issued a misdemeanor citation for animal cruelty and has been assigned a court date.
The man, whose identity has not been shared, was issued the citation on Wednesday morning, Caldwell Police Lt. Doug Winfield said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon. The incident took place in the 1000 block of Seventh Avenue, Caldwell Chief of Police Rex Ingram said.
Video of the man punching the dog was captured with a Ring doorbell camera and circulated widely on sites such as Nextdoor, Ingram said. The person who called 911 did not know who the man was, but on Monday the man identified himself to the authorities, Winfield said.
As of Wednesday evening, the video had 677 comments on Nextdoor.
Josh Ruiz
Officers, including animal control personnel, interviewed the man and assessed the dog at the person’s residence. Animal control personnel are certified veterinary technicians, Winfield said.
“She did an evaluation of the dog and didn’t note any injuries on the dog,” Winfield said. “The dog didn’t seem to be afraid of the owner. The dog seemed to be in good health.”
The owner said he had become upset at the dog for getting out of the yard when he was late for work, Winfield said. The owner was issued a citation for the dog’s lack of a license and up-to-date rabies vaccine, he said.
But after a meeting with the prosecuting attorney, officials decided they would issue the misdemeanor animal cruelty citation and the dog would be taken to a local shelter, Winfield said. It was the suspect’s first offense, Winfield said.
When Winfield watched the video of the incident, he said “it seemed very unnecessary to me,” noting he is also a dog owner.
Ingram said there is talk on social media about a protest of the incident happening on Thursday outside of City Hall.
“I would urge them to to exercise their constitutional right to assembly, however, we will have officers monitoring that event and with the hopes that they hear me on this press conference and they do not do a form of protests which could disrupt the nature of the city and the business of the city and traffic,” Ingram said. “And it could pose a threat to the community by having a protest that is spontaneous and not pre-planned with permits in such a fashion.”
Ingram said it’s generally his experience that protests happen when people are misinformed or do not have all the facts, and expressed hope that the information shared during the press conference would provide the public with the information they need.
“My posture and our department’s posture is to facilitate a peaceful protest,” he said. “That’s a First Amendment right. But hopefully my goal here is to ... ensure that everyone is safe and that anyone that wishes to protest understands that they can’t break the law when they’re protesting,” he said, adding that an officer presence will ensure that people stay safe.
Erin Banks Rusby is a reporter with the Idaho Press. She covers Canyon County, including agriculture, education, and government.
