Dog dragged to death behind truck
Mears, MI (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Apr 21, 2011
County: Oceana
Charges: Misdemeanor, Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged:
» Carl Merlin Morgan
» Name Undisclosed
Case Updates: 1 update(s) available
Three Mears men are being investigated for allegedly dragging a dog to death behind a pickup truck for roughly three miles Thursday, then burying it along a remote Oceana County road, police said.
All three men were intoxicated at the time, said Oceana County Sheriff's Office Lt. Craig Mast.
Mast said a woman noticed a "trail of blood" at Taylor Road near 48th Avenue in Golden Township and called 911.
Authorities followed the trail for about three miles until it ended near Morris Road, Mast said.
In that area, they found a dog buried and evidence that it had been dragged for some time behind a vehicle, Mast said.
Mast said deputies learned that a gas station attendant remembered seeing three men, apparently intoxicated, at Wilson's Party Store, 2430 N. 56th, Mears.
The woman told police she recalls a dog -- identified as an Irish setter -- being put into the back of a pickup truck before the three men drove off, Mast said.
Surveillance video outside the store captured an image of the men in the parking lot. One of the men can be seen petting the dog before putting it in the back of the truck, Mast said.
That video is considered evidence and won't be released to the public at this time, Mast said.
The men were later located at a home in the Mears area and interviewed about the incident, Mast said. None of the men had a valid driver's license, he said.
Criminal charges against all three men were pending Friday, he said. One of them men has been cited for having an unlicensed dog, Mast said.
Case UpdatesThe owner of a dog that was dragged to death behind a pickup truck on a rural Oceana County road faces trial on a felony charge.
After a preliminary hearing Monday afternoon in Oceana County 78th District Court, Carl Merlin Morgan, 40, was bound over for trial in 27th Circuit Court on a charge of killing and torturing an animal, a four-year felony. He also is charged with abandoning and cruelty to an animal, a 93-day misdemeanor.
Morgan is one of two men charged in the April 12 incident. The driver of the truck, a Beulah resident, faces the same charges. Police have not yet been able to locate him. That man is also charged with operating a vehicle with a suspended driver's license.
A third man, a passenger in the pickup the night the incident occurred, has not been charged.
The dragging incident was reported to police at about 10 p.m. after a woman noticed a trail of blood on Taylor Road near 48th Avenue in Golden Township and called 911.
Police followed the three-mile-long blood trail, which led them to the buried dog.
An employee of Wilson's Party Store, 2430 N. 56th, Mears, told police she remembered seeing three men who seemed to be intoxicated put the dog in the back of the truck. | Source: mlive.com - May 24, 2011
Update posted on May 30, 2011 - 1:16PM |
References |
