By Joe Johnson
After nearly a month of investigation, Athens-Clarke County police had yet to identify a man who brutalized a dog in a westside neighborhood, a police official said on Monday.
Investigators do not know if the dog lived or died because the incident was captured by a Ring surveillance camera at a Lavender Road residence that was given to police on the morning of April 13.
"Other than what is captured on the vide, we do not have any information about the dog," said Lt. Shaun Barnett, public information officer for the Athens-Clarke County Police Department
According to a police incident report, the video captured images of Black male who was dressed all in black clothing dragging a dog by a leash through a yard at 105 Lavender Road, where he stopped and hit the dog in the head “so hard that the strike can easily be heard in the video.”
From a different camera angle, the suspect is seen dragging the apparently unconscious animal by a leash toward the roadway, according to the report, which noted that the animal “appears to be limp in action and attempts to get up once.”
The suspect is then seen in the video as he stops, hits the dog again, knocking the animal to the ground, according to the police report.
The male then picked up the dog, which the police report notes that officers were unable to determine if the dog was dead or alive.
While canvassing the area for possible witnesses, witnesses, officers spoke with someone on Merlin Court, who told of two houses on Merlin Place “with multiple dogs that have recently had multiple people outside acting unusual.
Police asked for anyone with information about the incident to contact Sgt. Len Thomas at 762-400-7359 or leonard.thomas @accgov.com.