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County: Riverside
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Not Charged
Person of Interest: Glynn Johnson
How can any human being just murder a puppy for no reason?" dogowner Shelley Toole says fighting through tears.
Her family can't sleep.
They say Monday, their next-door neighbor, in some kind of violent rage, beat their puppy so badly the dog had to be put down.
Karley was a six-month old shepherd mix.
What may surprise many people is the fact that the neighbor is Los Angeles County Assistant Fire Chief Glynn Johnson.
An online biography lists a stellar 30-year career with the department. It says he's an expert in counter-terrorism, among other areas.
But his neighbors of the last ten years have a very different picture of the man. Jeff Toole, Shelley's husband, says he believes Chief Johnson "needs a lot of help."
Riverside County investigators tell KTLA the fire chief admits to beating the dog -- but says it was in self-defense because Karley attacked him viciously.
The Tooles say Monday evening, Karley got out and went to neighbor Travis Staggs' home. He lives on the other side of Chief Johnson's house.
Staggs says he was walking Karley home when Johnson stepped in and said he would take the dog back home.
Staggs says he reluctantly handed over the puppy, and that's when it happened in Johnson's front yard.
Travis Staggs tells KTLA that Glynn Johnson simply started beating the dog, and that the dog had not attacked Johnson first.
According to this witness, Johnson hit the dog repeatedly with a closed fist, put his hands in the puppy's mouth and tried to break its jaws, and eventually beat the dog over the head repeatedly with a large rock from the front yard.
Staggs says he tried to stop the attack but couldn't. The Toole family later decided to have Karley put down because of the extent of her injuries.
"It scares me, knowing I live next-door to this man," says Travis Staggs.
The Tooles say they will take civil action against the assistant fire chief regardless of the outcome of the criminal investigation.
Riverside County deputies tell KTLA they are conducting more interviews with witnesses in an attempt to determine what really happened in this case. If detectives find enough evidence that the dog beating was unwarranted, they will hand the case over to the district attorney for a possible animal cruelty charge, which is a felony.
The Tooles say there is a "history of violence" with Glynn Johnson, and deputies say they are looking into these claims as well.
"This man needs to go to prison for what he did," says Shelley Toole. She adds, "Karley was my baby, and he took her away from me."
5 comments:
The man is a low life coward. He should be fired, stripped of his pension and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
WHOA. Innocent until proven guilty, people?
That said, who hits a dog with a rock? I would have swatted the little bastard if it bit MY thumb, but a rock? Is there any justification for that?
It is pretty hard to believe he is innocent when that little puppy in no way could be that much of a threat to him to do what he did to it. If he had let it go it would have run away from him as it did when help arrived.There was also a very credible witness so to me he is guilty unless proven innocent.
It's time to put Glynn Johnson down....Seriously, this guy is taking up space, and taking a salary paid by the citizens.
Sad are the days gone of a Public Lynching on the courthouse lawn!
Mike Hunt
It's time to put Glynn Johnson down....Seriously, this guy is only taking up space where a more poroductive person could be. Public Lynching on the courthouse lawn!
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