A man has been charged with killing his neighbor's 2-pound miniature Yorkshire terrier by place-kicking it into the air like a football. Chad Daniel Crawford, 23, was booked on charges of cruelty to animals and felony vandalism. He was freed after posting $25,000 bond.
Jelani Lewis and Jessica McKenzie said they were shocked and outraged by the death of their 17-year-old dog, Gizmo.
Lewis was on the grounds of his apartment complex Tuesday when he said he saw one of three men holding the dog like a football.
"The other one backed up and kicked him like a place-kicker,'' said Lewis, who couldn't get there fast enough to save his pet.
Gizmo flew through the air in a high arc, hit the pavement and rolled a few feet beneath a parked car. The dog was dead when he hit the ground and the men were laughing, Lewis said.
"I didn't believe that they kicked my dog,'' Lewis told The Tennessean newspaper. "When I saw him kick it, I was thinking, maybe for a second, 'No, that isn't Gizmo.''
Lewis said he chased the men and caught Crawford, then made him pick up Gizmo's body and take it upstairs to McKenzie.
Lewis said he held Crawford until police arrived. Only Crawford has been charged.
Contacted by telephone at his home, Crawford said the accusations against him were false. He declined further comment and said he was trying to contact an attorney.
Judy Ladebauche, Metro Animal Control Director said she would ask prosecutors to upgrade the charges against Crawford to the state's newly created aggravated animal cruelty charge. Under the new law, a conviction can result in a court-ordered mental evaluation for the offender and a second offense is a felony. Case Updates| Posted on Dec 14, 2004 - 10:50AM | On Thursday, attorneys for Chad Crawford, 24, hope a judge will either move the trial or bring jurors in from other parts of the state. News stories about the death of Gizmo, a 16-year-old Yorkshire terrier, saturated local media, and emotions have run so high that animal lovers have threatened their client with bodily harm, the attorneys say.
''I think it would be really hard for you to find a pool of jurors in Davidson County who have not read about this case in the media,'' said Stephen Ogle, one of Crawford's attorneys. ''It's getting nationwide attention, but surely a county in East Tennessee or a county in West Tennessee would be less prejudiced.''
Crawford and Michael L. Davis were charged with aggravated cruelty to an animal and the intentional killing of an animal, both felonies. Davis is awaiting trial on his charges.
The men have denied killing the dog.
Besides asking for a change of venue, Ogle also filed a motion seeking to get Crawford's two felony charges reduced to misdemeanors.
Gizmo's owners have said that the dog was worth about $1,500. But Ogle disputes that.
No reasonable jury could conclude that a dog that age is worth more than $500, Ogle said.
Under the law, he said, the suspects would be subject to lesser charges because of the decreased value of the dog.
On the second charge � intentional killing of an animal � Ogle notes that the law was changed in June to make it a felony for first-time offenders convicted of the crime. But the incident involving Gizmo happened in April � too early for Crawford to be subjected to the new law, the attorney said.
Prosecutors could not be reached for comment yesterday, and it was unclear yesterday whether prosecutors will oppose either of the motions or whether Criminal Court Judge Monte Watkins will rule on them during the hearing Thursday. | | Source: The Tennessean - Dec 14, 2004 |
| Posted on Oct 28, 2004 - 9:33AM | Two men charged with holding and kicking a dog like a football, killing it, have pleaded innocent to animal cruelty charges.
Twenty-one-year-old Michael Davis and 24-year-old Chad Crawford were arraigned yesterday in Davidson County Criminal Court on charges of aggravated cruelty to animals and the intentional killing of an animal.
Crawford is accused of kicking the 16-year-old Yorkshire terrier. | | Source: WVLT-TV |
| Posted on Oct 19, 2004 - 5:48PM | The man accused of performing the duties of a ''placeholder'' in a bizarre dog-kicking incident � which police say killed Gizmo, a Yorkshire terrier � has been indicted in the dog's death.
Michael Lee Davis, 21, of the 300 block of Delvin Drive in Nashville, was indicted on charges of intentional killing of an animal and aggravated cruelty to animals. He was arrested Oct. 7 and booked on the charges through Nashville's night court.
Davis' indictment occurred alongside that of the accused kicker, Chad Daniel Crawford, 24, who also was indicted in September by the Davidson County grand jury on the same charges.
According to police, Crawford kicked the 16-year-old dog high into the air on April 5 and caused it to die. The pet's owner said Crawford kicked Gizmo while Davis knelt to the ground, in a setup similar to the one employed by football players kicking field goals.
A third man, whom the owner spotted with Davis and Crawford, has never been publicly identified by authorities and has not been charged with any crime.
Reached yesterday by telephone at his Nashville employer, Axis Direct, Davis declined to comment. ''I have nothing to say about that,'' Davis said. An attempt to reach Crawford's Nashville attorneys was not successful.
Davis is out of jail through a pretrial release program. Crawford was arrested the day after Gizmo's death but was soon freed after posting $25,000 bail. Both men are set for an Oct. 27 arraignment on the charges. Further court dates have not been set, though it could be next year before there is a trial, said Kristen Shea, a Davidson County assistant district attorney general.
Since the April 5 incident, Gizmo's story has continued to stir response from animal lovers nationwide.
Reached yesterday by telephone, one of the dog's owners, Jelani Lewis, said that above all else, he wants the suspects to confess so he can find some peace from the loss.
''I want all three to understand what they did was wrong,'' Lewis said. ''That is the most important thing for me. I don't think that they understand that.''
Police reports say that on the night of the incident, Davis told them that Crawford had kicked Gizmo.
Lewis said the dog's death occurred when he took out the trash at his Nashboro Village apartment complex the night of April 5, when he also let an unleashed Gizmo go to a nearby grassy spot.
Lewis said he heard whimpering, and then shortly thereafter, watched helplessly as Davis knelt and held Gizmo as a football player would hold a football for a kicker.
Crawford took a running start and kicked Gizmo high into the air until the small dog smacked the pavement in the parking lot and his small frame rolled underneath a parked car, he said. | | Source: The Tennessean - Oct 13, 2004 |
| Posted on Jun 13, 2004 - 11:19AM | Jelani Lewis and his wife Jessica , owners of Gizmo, are asking a court to award them $20,000 in punitive and compensatory damages for his death. The suit names as defendants Chad Daniel Crawford, charged by police with kicking the dog, along with two other men, and Nashboro Village Apartments,where the couple lives.
When asked about the money, Jelani Lewis said, ''that's not even important. Whatis important is that all three individuals are prosecuted to the fullest and then getting new laws that this state should have on record.''
Stephen S. Ogle, Crawford's attorney, said Crawford did not kill Gizmo or kick the dog. Ogle said he thinks that a jury will find his client not guilty. Crawford moved out of the apartment complex and lost his job working at the apartments.
The two other men named in the civil suit are Micheal Lee Davis and Andrew Jacob Rothlisberger, both of which have not been charged of any crime. Lewis' lawsuit said all three men celebrated, saying the dog was ''so dead,'' and cheering when the dog was kicked into the air and killed.
Hearing's for Crawford, who was charged with misdeameanor cruelty to animals and felony vandalism, are scheduled for next week in the Davidson County General Sessions Court. Attorney Stephen Ogle filed court papers asking that the felony vandalism charge be changed to a misdemeanor. According to the police, the felony is based on the dog's value of $1,500. Ogle said Lewis demanded $400 from Crawford the night of his client's arrest. Furthermore, he said, the dog is not worth $500, a level of damage that causes a vandalism charge to become a felony.
''It's a vandalism case, and it has caused all this outrage because of a
piece of property that was a dog,'' Ogle said. ''If it was a mailbox, it
wouldn't have this kind of a furor. . Not to diminish what it feels like to
lose a dog, but that's not the test in the criminal case.'' |
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