ACT QUICKLY-Dog dragged under car in Knox County, TN

Animals deserve humane treatment by everyone, just as people do By DAVID HUNTER, davidhunter333@comcast.net February 5, 2007 On Sept. 29, 2006, a heinous crime allegedly was committed in Knoxville that didn't get a lot of attention because the victim was canine instead of human. As you read, remember that all persons charged with a crime in the United States are presumed innocent until convicted in a court of law. Let me also say that accidents happen, that it's illegal to allow pets to run loose in the city of Knoxville and that most pet fatalities are the result of careless pet owners. But this story goes beyond a simple accident, I think; it speaks to basic humanity or a lack thereof. Late in 2006, I was contacted by Vicky Crosetti of the Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley, who had learned of a pending case in Knox County Sessions Court concerning a dog that was allegedly dragged by a car from the vicinity of Merchant Drive and Interstate 75 to the Target Store on Clinton Highway, a distance of around four miles, according to Mapquest. The story was true. I got a copy of the report, which was a matter of public record, and talked to Officer Butch Russell of the Knox County Sheriff's Office, who investigated the incident and arrested the alleged perpetrator. He charged her with aggravated cruelty to an animal. The official report is chilling in its starkness; I have written a summary of the narrative from Sheriff's Office report 06-09292380. At approximately 9:27 p.m., on the night of Sept. 29, 2006, citizens began to call the Knoxville-Knox County 911 center to report a woman driving westbound on Merchant Drive, dragging a dog under her car. Callers reported that the dog was alive and in great pain. A witness listed on the report said citizens were yelling at the woman and that he got out of his car when she stopped at a traffic light on Merchant, walked up to her vehicle and told her she was dragging a live dog underneath her car. The witness said the woman looked at him and then drove on when the light changed, as other citizens continued to yell for her to stop. According to the report, the driver continued west on Merchant, turned north on Highway 25W and continued to drag the dog all the way to the Target Store at 6670 Clinton Highway, where she turned into the parking lot. At that point she pulled the dog - which was probably mercifully dead by then - from under her vehicle, and then allegedly ran over the dog as she left. "The dog may have been a pit bull," Officer Russell told me, "but I really couldn't tell." That might have been the end of it, even though the police had a license tag number. The suspect had moved from Anderson County and was no longer at the residence listed on the registration. But Russell has three dogs of his own. He continued to investigate until he located the driver of the car at a trailer park in Knox County around two hours later - not far from where the unfortunate animal had been left. "As soon as I got out of my cruiser, I smelled the stench of burnt flesh from the car outside the trailer," he said recently. I can tell you from experience, it is not an odor one ever forgets. A big man and veteran deputy sheriff, Russell was obviously disgusted as he recounted the story. "I don't understand how anyone could be so cruel," he said. Why are you reading about an incident that happened last September? Well, justice moves slowly most of the time. The case of the dragged dog is scheduled to be heard Tuesday in Knox County General Sessions Court, and I thought the public should know about it. A good defense attorney will ask that the charge be reduced from aggravated cruelty to simple cruelty, which is a misdemeanor. That's what defense attorneys do; it's their job. This is the kind of case that often falls through the cracks in a crowded court system because some will say, it was just a dog. Officer Butch Russell went out of his way to do his job the way it should have been done because he believes in justice. So do I, and now I've done my job. If you're interested, it's not too late for your voice to be heard. A representative of the Knox County attorney general's office will present the case, debate the defense attorney as to whether a felony or misdemeanor was committed, and a judge will decide whether probable cause existed for the arrest. David Hunter, who writes this column for the News Sentinel, is a freelance writer and former Knox County sheriff's deputy. You may write him at P.O. Box 1124, Powell, TN 37849. His e-mail address is _davidhunter333@comcast.net_ (mailto:davidhunter333@comcast.net) . Copyright 2007, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.