Police arrested a 14-year-old boy on cruelty to animal charges for reportedly setting two dogs on fire in a north Arlington neighborhood.
The child's father called 911 about 6 p.m. and said that his son reported being forced at gunpoint by an unknown man to set the pit bulls ablaze, police spokesman Lt. Blake Miller said. About the same time, a man called 911 after finding one of his dogs injured in his back yard in the 500 block of McQueary Street, Miller said.
Police arrived to find a 6-month-old puppy still alive, but severely burned inside his kennel in the fenced back yard, Detective Amanda Moss said. The puppy was euthanized.
The teen-ager, whose identity is not being released because of his age, reportedly changed his account of the incident and told police he had been taunting the neighbor's dogs. Police arrested him Thursday at Shackleford Junior High School, where he is a student. He is being held at the Tarrant County juvenile detention center.
The teen-ager told investigators that he had set the dogs on fire with lighter fluid and one had run out of the kennel and escaped the back yard through a hole in the fence, Moss said. The white, 1-year-old pit bull has not been found. Police are asking anyone who finds the animal not to approach it but to call 911. Case UpdatesThe boy pleaded guilty in juvenile court this week to setting fire to a neighbor's puppy last month, a prosecutor said.
The boy, who is not being identified because of his age, faces probation or jail time in the Texas Youth Commission for a felony charge of animal cruelty, Tarrant County prosecutor Chad Lee said.
The teen-ager reportedly changed his account of the incident and told investigators he had been taunting the puppy and another pit bull and set them on fire with lighter fluid, police said.
A white, 1-year-old pit bull apparently extinguished the flames on herself on the ground and escaped the back yard through a hole in the fence, the boy told police. That dog has not been found.
The teen is being held at the Tarrant County juvenile detention center. | Source: Firehouse.Com - Oct 13, 2004
Update posted on Oct 19, 2004 - 8:19AM |
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