Dog dragged behind scooter; owner may be charged

DESTIN — A young black lab had to have its paws stitched after being dragged behind a motorized scooter on a leash, according to an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office incident report.

The Sheriff’s Office received a call May 2 at 3:45 p.m. about an “elderly male” on a scooter dragging a dog as he drove down the sidewalk near the corner of Gulf Winds Court and Gulf Shore Drive. The caller told the deputy that he’d been sitting on his balcony when he noticed the incident.

He ran downstairs and stopped the scooter, and then grabbed the dog, the report said. Two other witnesses arrived to help and the older man tried to fight them. He then tried to leave on the scooter, but one of the witnesses took the keys so he could not leave.

The deputy noticed that the dog had cuts and abrasions to all four paws and seemed tired. A blood trail could be seen for 250 feet.

The scooter driver’s girlfriend arrived and said the scooter driver had “mental issues.” She got permission to take the dog to a veterinarian.

When the deputy interviewed the driver, he said that all he was doing “was giving his dog some exercise.” He said he may have gotten up to speeds between 10 and 15 mph, according to the report. He told the deputy that due to medical problems he was not able to exercise his dog properly and that he believed riding on his scooter was the best way.

An officer from the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society also interviewed those on scene. She then went to the animal clinic, she tried to seize the dog, but the man’s girlfriend refused to give the officer the dog, which she apparently owns.

“We’re still in the process of trying to locate the animal,” said Dee Thompson-Poirrier, animal services director for PAWS.

Thompson-Poirrier said that the man told her officer, “I don’t care if I get it back; I’m gonna have it killed anyway.”

“The only thing we can do is hope she can protect it,” she added.

The deputy indicated in his report that he plans to request the authority to charge the man with animal cruelty.