A 59-year-old man is accused of tying rope around the necks of two dogs and dragging them by the hitch of his car last month in Wayne Township in Pennsylvannia.
According to police, officers were called to the area of Dewey Avenue on July 27 for the report of a man dragging dogs with a rope using his vehicle.
A responding officer reported that he found the two dogs badly injured with multiple gashes. The ropes were still around both dogs’ necks.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, the dogs’ owner, William Wilkinson, told police the dogs got out of his yard while he was at the doctors.
The affidavit said Wilkinson said he couldn’t find anyone to help him when he located the dogs, so he tied the rope around the dogs and traveled about 2 mph with them tied to the hitch.
At one point, according to affidavit, Wilkinson said he stopped to give one of the dogs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Police talked with a witness who said he saw the dogs being dragged so he raced in to help. The witness told police he noticed one of the dogs was not breathing so he got a knife from his truck to cut the rope.
According to the affidavit, the witness told police he couldn’t get his fingers under the rope because it was so tight. The witness said Wilkinson eventually resuscitated the dog.
The witness then called police, who came to the scene.
The affidavit said Wilkinson told officers dragging the dogs was an accident, and he didn’t know the rope would strangle them.
The dogs were taken to a veterinarian and are currently in an unspecified safe location.
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