Horse dragged behind vehicle, kicked in the head
Florence, AZ (US)

Incident Date: Monday, Aug 4, 2008
County: Pinal

Disposition: Alleged

Alleged:
» Gordon Allen Bates
» 13 year old girl

A man and his teen daughter are facing charges of animal cruelty in dragging a horse behind a pickup, the Pinal County Sheriff's Department said in a news release Thursday.

The horse is recovering, Pinal County sheriffs' spokeswoman Vanessa White said in the release.

The case came to light Monday when someone called the Sheriff's Department and reported a man driving a pickup with a horse chained to the back bumper.

"The reporting party was concerned that the owner of the horse was going to kill the horse," White said in the release.

A sheriff's corporal was sent to where the horse and truck were spotted, on East Javelina Drive in Florence.

The corporal followed truck tracks along the dirt road and found impressions in the dirt from the horse being dragged.

Continuing down the road, White said, the corporal spotted the horse on its side being dragged, White said.

The truck stopped and a man got out, followed by his 13-year-old daughter, who started "kicking the horse in the head, yelling at the horse to get up," White said.

The man got a plastic pipe from the rear of the truck and began beating the horse with it while also yelling for the animal to get up.

The corporal told the pair to stop and they complied, White said.

When the lawman looked at the horse, he saw it was bleeding from the nose and had "road rash" on its rear legs and numerous cuts and scrapes from being hit with the pipe.

The corporal also noticed a vehicle tow strap around the horse's neck was embedded in the animal's flesh, and removed the strap.

White said the man "told the officer that the horse would not obey and he needed to get the horse to another location."

The deputy arrested Gordon Allen Bates and his daughter on charges of animal cruelty, White said. The Florence pair have been released on their own recognizance and the case is being reviewed by the Pinal County Attorney's Office.

References

• « AZ State Animal Cruelty Map

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