ohmidog!

The North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled today that Charles Jones, shown above kicking his State Highway Patrol dog in September 2007, and fired shortly thereafter, should be reinstated.

And with back pay.

Jones was fired after another trooper turned over two 15-second video clips of him suspending his K-9 partner, Ricoh, from a railing and repeatedly kicking him to force him to release a chew toy.

In 2008, the State Personnel Commission found Jones’ punishment too harsh and ordered that he be reinstated.

Tuesday’s ruling is the latest in a series, all of which agreed the Highway Patrol did not have cause to terminate Jones’ employment. (Ricoh didn’t get a vote.) You can find the full text of the ruling here.

Patrol leaders said they initially planned to discipline Jones but decided to fire him when then-Gov. Mike Easley’s office intervened.

In its ruling, the court noted testimony from Jones’ former supervisor, Lt. Col. Cecil Lockley, who said, “They want him gone … the decision regarding Sgt. Jones’ career was predetermined, not by the patrol’s disciplinary process but by an outside entity.”

Lockley called Jones’ method of disciplining Ricoh “ugly,” but said it did not fall outside the realm of patrol-accepted training techniques.

The appeals court agreed with a lower court ruling that ”the training method used by Jones on Ricoh in this matter, while appearing excessive and extreme to the general public, is not unreasonably outside of or substantially different from several of the training techniques that are tested, trained and approved for use by the Patrol.”

It concluded, “Jones acted consistently with his training, and used compliance techniques on Ricoh similar to those used by all Patrol members who were canine handlers.”

We’d hope that the highway patrol has redefined the boundaries of its realm of training techniques –  as it stated it would after the case came to public attention.

A rebuilding of the K-9 unit was promised, and an end to the kind of rough training tactics — swinging, suspending and kicking of patrol dogs — that the video depicts. New training procedures, they said, would specifically prohibit punching, kicking, beating and choking of dogs.

A North Jersey physician has been accused of stabbing her 13-year-old  daughter with a screwdriver at least 100 times because she failed to properly wash her dog’s clothes, police and health officials said.

Dr. Sylvia S. Lee of Emerson, an allergist, faces felony charges of aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.

Her license to practice medicine has been suspended by the state Board of Medical Examiners, according to The Record.

State officials said Dr. Lee, 58, admitted jabbing the child multiple times with a flathead screwdriver after the girl failed to wash “doggie clothes” and a “doggie towel” in the correct order.

The alleged attack occurred in Dr. Lee’s home in Emerson on July 3. Emerson police said they received a call from the Lee’s adopted daughter after she fled to a former caretaker’s house near her home, Lt. George Buono said.

“The girl was visibly upset and had some bruising and redness on her face, scrapes and small puncture wounds on different parts of her body,” Buono said.

Though the blows from the screwdriver broke the skin and caused some bleeding, the wounds weren’t deep and the child did not require hospitalization, officials said.

Dr. Lee practiced medicine at the Center for Asthma and Allergy, in offices in Wayne and in Old Bridge. Robert Conroy, an attorney who represents the practice, said Lee resigned at least a week ago.

The state Department of Children and Families was called in after the alleged assault and that the girl has been placed with another family. Dr. Lee was released on $200,000 bail.

A sheriff’s deputy in Ohio County, Kentucky, was fired yesterday after allegedly beating an injured dog with a garden hoe — apparently in an attempt to put her out of her misery.

The dog, thought dead, was then buried, only to resurface a few days later — alive.

Ohio County Sheriff David Thompson informed Deputy Randy Taylor of his termination shortly before a news conference Tuesday morning, according to this report from WEHT

Thompson — despite reports that quote Taylor as saying he beat the dog because it “wasn’t worth the bullet” — said he didn’t think Taylor’s intention were cruel.

“Obviously Mr. Taylor is very disappointed,” said Thompson. “He’s very sorry about the situation. His intent, which I believe, probably was never to punish the animal or be cruel to the animal as such.”

Deputy Taylor had been suspended with pay over the June 28th incident, in which sources say a state transportation worker noticed an injured dog, apparently struck by a car, and called for a deputy.

When Taylor arrived, he allegedly began beating the dog with a garden hoe. The dog was then reportedly taken back to the garage and buried under a mound of dirt.

Several days later, the dog was discovered to still be alive. A transportation worker has also been fired in connection with the incident.

Sheriff Thompson said that Muhlenberg County Attorney Darris Russell is being brought in as a special prosecutor to review the case due to a conflict of interest in Ohio County.

While most news reports don’t mention whether the dog is still alive, a Facebook post indicates she is, and that she has been named Chance.

“I was fortunate to see ‘Chance’ today and I was truly shocked. Although they said she looked a hundred percent better, I couldn’t believe my eyes. I bent down to be close to her and she took a minute to find me. I believe her sight is gone in one eye and it looks like she might have trouble getting in focus. As soon as I got close, she gave me a kiss.

“Her little body is beaten, but her spirit not broken. She is very underweight and has multiple large dents on the top of her head where she was hit. They got her up for me to see and she cried very badly for a few seconds. She is really sore after all this (as to be expected).

“As I was there, the vet showed me something that I could not believe. She has a bullet lodged in her hip where she has been shot in the past. This is not made up and if I hadn’t seen it, well, let’s just say she gets more beautiful by the moment. As soon as she is out of danger of being exploited, I will post a picture for all to see. I for one, appreciate the overwhelming care that you all have shown for this helpless, wonderful dog.”

Andrew David Thompson, the Michigan State University osteopathic medicine student suspended after he was charged with killing 13 dogs, expects to be reinstated to his school, his attorney said at a hearing yesterday.

Thompson, 24, has admitted killing 13 Italian greyhounds since September 2010, according to law enforcement officials, and said he did it “out of anger.” According to authorities, he said the dogs were disobedient and not housebroken.

Thompson, at yesterday’s hearing, waived his right to have a preliminary hearing within 14 days, according to the Lansing State Journal.

That hearing, now scheduled for Aug. 4, will determine if there is enough evidence for a trial. Thompson, wearing a dark green jail uniform, said he understood the charges against him. His attorney, Kimberly Savage, said Thompson has no adult or juvenile criminal record.

Thompson appeared before Judge Donald Allen in 55th District Court, where he faces 10 felony counts of killing animals at his apartment in Okemos. He also faces three additional counts in East Lansing.

The charges are punishable by up to four years in prison.

Thompson is being held at the Ingham County Jail on a $500,000 bond.

A second-year student at MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, Thompson was suspended June 23 because of the allegations against him. He was charged the next day.

Officials said Thompson owned the Italian greyhounds that he killed, and had purchased them from out of state.

Authorities say 10 dogs were killed at Thompson’s Okemos apartment and three more were killed at an East Lansing complex across the street from MSU’s campus.

A Michigan State University medical student is facing charges he killed 10 dogs — most, if not all, Italian greyhounds.

Andrew David Thompson, 24, was arraigned Monday in 55th District Court on 10 felony counts of animal killing, and one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty in connection with a dog that was severely neglected.

Prosecutors say the killings occurred since October 2010. At least some are alleged to have happened at his apartment in Okemos, according to the Lansing State Journal.

Thompson is being held at the Ingham County Jail on a $100,000 bond. He faces up to four years in prison on the felony charges and 93 days in jail on the misdemeanor. A preliminary hearing is set for July 7.

Ingham County Prosecutor Stuart Dunnings III said Thompson owned the Italian greyhounds. Dunnings would not comment on how the dogs died, and no explanation has surfaced, at least publicly, about his motivation.

Thompson’s attorney, George Zulakis, said Monday he has not seen any police reports and could not comment on the allegations.

MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine suspended Thompson on Thursday, officials said, in light of the accusations.

In a somehat bizarre written statement, a university spokesman said:

“MSU and the College of Osteopathic Medicine take these allegations very seriously. The alleged actions do not reflect the values of MSU or the ethics of the medical profession.”

A Maryland man who threw a  teacup Chihuahua off a bridge was sentenced in Frederick, Maryland to four months in jail.

The dog, named Zoey, was never found after the incident and was presumed to have been killed.

David Beers, 35, was sentenced yesterday to  a three-year year term, but the judge suspended all but four months of it and ordered the unemployed cell tower technician to pay a $1,000 fine, perform 300 hours of community service and make restitution of $318 to the dog’s owners, Timothy and Caisha Wantz.

Beers apologized for stealing the dog in a fit of anger after the Wantzes ordered him off their property in rural Jefferson last year, according to the Associated Press. Beers had pulled into their driveway to make a cell phone call.

Beers put the dog in his car and threw it off a bridge and into a creek on the way home. He pleaded guilty to felony animal cruelty.

A Pennsylvania veterinarian has been convicted of animal cruelty after he removed part of a puppy’s tail without anesthesia while holding it under scalding water.

Tom Stevenson of Honey Brook in Chester County performed the procedure on the nine-week-old puppy last March in the washroom of a kennel in Lancaster County.

A prosecutor said Stevenson acted against all “reasonable veterinary judgment” when he used unsterilized scissors and failed to give the animal pain medication or proper treatment for the wound, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.

Stevenson, whose medical license was suspended by the state veterinary board in May as a result of the cruelty charge, testified that he was performing first aid on a previously injured dog and used the tools he had on hand. Stevenson’s attorney said he would appeal yesterday’s conviction.

Michael Vick pleaded guilty today to a state dogfighting charge, and apologized to ”the court, my family, and to all the kids who looked up to me as a role model.”

The former NFL quarterback pleaded guilty to one charge and not guilty to a second count that was then dropped. While conviction of the charge carries a maximum five-year sentence, Vick was given a three-year suspended sentence, according to the Associated Press.

By pleading guilty to the one charge, Vick became eligible for early release from prison and a possible return to the NFL. Federal law prohibits prisoners from being released to a halfway house if there are unresolved charges pending against them.

Vick, 28, already is serving a 23-month sentence in Leavenworth, Kan. for a federal dogfighting conviction. He’s scheduled for release on July 20, 2009, and will serve three years of probation.

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