Group stops man beating dog outside gas station, triggering brawl, Florida cops say
A man accused of beating his dog at a Circle K was stopped when bystanders stepped in, a Florida sheriff’s office said.
The man, 31, carrying what appeared to be a chain, was seen whipping his dog near an intersection in front of the gas station in Deltona on Feb. 2, according to photos and a video shared by the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
The video is graphic and contains strong language.
Multiple people approach the man, one yelling, “Get the dog away from him,” the video shows, as the dog runs up to cars at the gas pump.
The group puts themselves between the man and the dog, and then the man turns on the crowd, the sheriff’s office said.
One bystander grabs the man from behind as a brawl breaks out, according to the video.
Raymon Prush, who told WOFL he was the one who grabbed the man, said the man hit him in the face when he stepped in to protect the dog, so he “yoked him up to get him to stop being violent.”
In total, nine people jumped in to stop the man before deputies arrived, the sheriff’s office told the outlet.
According to body camera footage shared by the sheriff’s office, deputies arrived to find the man with blood on his head and his dog inside the car of one of the bystanders.
The man was “charged with felony animal cruelty as well as resisting an officer, child abuse, and 3 counts of battery, stemming from his attacks on those witnesses,” the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies said the dog was “doing OK” and taken by Deltona Animal Control before being put in a safe home away from the man.
“I want to publicly thank the witnesses that saw the abuse, intervened, and called us!” Sheriff Mike Chitwood said in a Facebook post.
Deltona is about 30 miles north of Orlando.
This story was originally published February 5, 2024 at 12:30 PM with the headline "Group stops man beating dog outside gas station, triggering brawl, Florida cops say."
