Puppy beaten by man with brick, bowl and pot doing well

May 14, 2015 at 12:08a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

A puppy that police said was beaten Tuesday on the South Side was getting care Wednesday.

Mahoning County Deputy Dog Warden Dave Nelson said the 8-month old Shepherd mix that goes by the name “Snappy” was bleeding from the mouth and covered in glass when he found him just after 10 a.m. at a home in the first block of East Prince-ton Avenue, where police were called for a report of a man beating a dog.

Jawan Johnson, 22, was arrested on a charge of cruelty to companion animals and taken to the county jail, but he was released about 8:20 p.m. Tuesday, according to jail records. He was arraigned Wednesday on the charge, a first-degree misdemeanor, and released until a preliminary hearing set for June 12.

The maximum penalty for a first-degree misdemeanor is six months in jail.

Nelson took Snappy to Animal Charity on Wednesday to be examined by a veterinarian. A spokeswoman for Animal Charity said Snappy had no visible injuries and was eating well and is in good shape. She said Animal Charity will have the dog at least until the case against Johnson is completed in the courts.

Nelson said the dog was in good spirits after he found it hidden in a kitchen in Johnson’s home.

“He’s doing real good after all he went through,” Nelson said.

Reports said a woman told police who were called to the home that Johnson came to her house and was yelling at someone on the phone before threatening to kill a dog. Johnson went to the home’s rear entrance while brandishing a brick and the woman began to hear the dog screaming, reports said.

Johnson took the dog to the front porch, threw it on the porch and hit it with the brick, bowl and pot, reports said, before the dog managed to run away.

Nelson said the dog weighs about 25 pounds. He said he cleaned all the glass out of Snappy’s fur before taking him to Animal Charity.

Nelson said Johnson did not say why he was beating the dog.