Elderly Florida Man Chains Pet Dog To Golf Cart, Brutally Drags It On Road, Canine Dead

Fort Walton Beach Police Department on Saturday arrested a Florida man and charged him with animal cruelty for brutally killing his pet dog after he chained it to the back of his golf cart and dragged it down the road.

The suspect, identified as 79-year-old Dean Woodyatt, of Shalimar, continued to drag his pet German shepherd down the road, ignoring the motorists who witnessed the gruesome incident and tried stopping him by beeping their horns in protest. Several onlookers also tried stopping Woodyatt but he ignored them all.

An onlooker, who chased behind the golf cart, managed to get Woodyatt to a halt before the police arrived. The incident took place on the afternoon of Saturday when the temperature was very high.

The police arrived at the scene to find the dog exhausted and struggling to breathe. The officers also noticed several injuries to all four feet of the animal.

The dog succumbed to the injuries and its body was taken for a necropsy by responding officials from the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) to determine the cause of death.

According to the police report, when the officers tried to take Woodyatt into custody, he refused and grabbed on to the chain and tried to leave the scene in his red golf cart.

“Officers had to pry the chain out of Woodyatt’s hands and he physically resisted by holding onto the golf cart,” stated the police report.

The necropsy results showed that the dog died of heat-related injuries.

PAWS Interim Executive Director Melissa Forberg responded to the incident by saying that “animal cruelty is never acceptable in a civilized society.” It is still unclear as to how long Woodyatt had been abusing his dog.

Woodyatt was taken into custody and charged with animal cruelty and charges for resisting arrest. He was booked into the Okaloosa County Jail.

In a similar incident, a Georgia man and his wife were charged with multiple counts of animal cruelty after the man tied a dog to a post and shot it in the head. The responding deputies found more dead animals inside the house.