CARY -- Eighteen-month-old Hurley is hanging out this week at the Cary Police Department after being taken into protective custody while he recovers from surgery to repair his broken pelvic bone.
"He's here now," Chris Davis, a support services manager with the Cary police confirmed Monday. "He's a cute little dog."
Officers used a search warrant to collect the tan-and-white Chihuahua from an animal hospital, then drew up warrants charging Steven Soukup, 24, of 15111 Foresight Drive with animal cruelty in connection with Hurley's injuries. Soukup lived at the address with Hurley's owner.
It wasn't the first time Soukup has been charged with abusing the small dog with big eyes. He was issued a citation in June for "backhanding" Hurley so hard that the dog hit a wall.
Hurley suffered seizures after that.
Hurley was treated for his injuries and returned home in late June, records show.
Hurley and Soukup apparently shared an uneasy co-existence until Hurley's latest visit to N.C. State University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital. An animal control officer was phoned Sunday after Dr. Mila Freire-Gonzalez, an NCSU veterinarian, diagnosed Hurley once again as the victim of blunt force trauma - this time to his hind quarters.
Freire told police that she was familiar with Hurley from previous visits, including the June 29 visit when he was treated for that head injury. She said it appeared that someone had kicked Hurley hard enough to break his pelvic bone in the latest assault, according to a search warrant application filed Monday at the Wake County Clerk of Courts Office.
Soukup turned himself in early Tuesday at the Wake County jail, Davis said.
Police have not determined why Soukup keeps beating Hurley.
"Who knows? It's hard to know why," Davis said. "When you see the little fellow, he's so cute and so loving."
