A chihuahua was severely injured after a man threw the dog across a yard while drunk, the Coweta County Sheriff’s Office said.
Jeffrey Thornton, 51, faces an animal cruelty charge in connection with the incident, which occurred Monday at a home he shares with girlfriend Tina Smith.
According to an incident report released Thursday, a deputy arrived at the home in the 300 block of Cline Road about 8:40 p.m.
Smith told the deputy that Thornton became belligerent and argumentative with a neighbor.
She said Thornton picked up the neighbor’s dog by the collar and threw him about 15 yards in front of the dog’s owner and a 3-year-old child.
The dog’s breathing was labored and shallow, and he had trouble moving his back two legs, back and neck after the incident, witnesses said in the incident report.
Hayley Smith, one of those witnesses and the dog’s owner, said the dog was not being aggressive or doing anything to warrant being thrown across the yard.
Thornton said in the report he didn’t mean to throw the dog that far or to hurt it.
When deputies arrested him, he was slurring his speech, had bloodshot eyes and swayed when he moved, the sheriff’s office said in the report.
Thornton, who was initially uncooperative, was eventually arrested without incident, according to the sheriff’s office.
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