An Ozark County man will spend seven years in the Missouri Department of Corrections on a felony count of animal abuse. The Ozark County Times reports 34-year-old Brandon Patterson of Tecumseh was handed his sentence June 27th by Circuit Judge Craig Carter after entering his guilty plea in April.
According to the probable cause statement in the case, local officers were alerted to a man actively abusing a dog behind a residence on PP Highway in Tecumseh on May 28th, 2017. When Ozark County Deputy Nick Jones arrived, he found a small dog locked inside a dog crate and placed inside a metal trash can. The dog was lying in the bottom of the crate, unable to move and struggling to breathe. Patterson was standing nearby and when approached by Officer Jones reportedly stated, Ive been mean to it. Im sorry.
Patterson reportedly told the officer on the previous evening, on May 27th, he put the dog inside the trash can and filled the can with water from a garden hose. Patterson said he made the dog swim inside the trash can until it grew tired and could not swim any longer. He repeated this process for one to two hours.
While the dog was in the trash can, Patterson said he poked the animal, dunked it under the water and forced it to keep swimming. At one point, the dog bit Patterson, so he used a blow gun instead of his hands to keep the dog swimming and to push it under water. Additionally, Patterson reportedly placed the lid on the trash can and put a cinder block on top, causing the dog to tread water in complete darkness with very little air space to breathe. Patterson told the officer he had been doing the same thing that day, May 28th, when the officer arrived on scene.
When Officer Jones asked Patterson why he had abused the animal, Patterson told the officer he didnt know what he was doing and had lost both his thought process and control during the act.
The dog was taken to a local veterinarian for analysis and was found to have a fever of 104 degrees and aspiration pneumonia. It was treated with antibiotics and later released to the possession of a family member.
Ozark County John Garrabrant said Patterson will likely be required to serve at least 80 percent of his sentence before he’s eligible for parole since he has previously been reprimanded to the Department of Corrections more than three times.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI