Dec. 15--ST. LOUIS -- Prosecutors filed a misdemeanor animal abuse charge Friday against a woman whose attempt to return a gift puppy led to the animal being dragged for about a mile down Interstate 55 with nearly fatal results.
The charge names Benetta Johnson, 41, of the 1800 block of Gay Avenue in East St. Louis.
Her ex-husband, Victor Washington, who unknowingly drove off with the dog tied to his truck's trailer hitch, said Friday he thinks she just made a mistake, and that it did not rise to a felony. Benetta, a mother with two children at home, had been booked Thursday on suspicion of felony animal abuse. Bail was set at $1,000.
"It's more appropriate because the intent to harm the dog wasn't there," Washington said. "I hope she's learned her lesson, but I don't want her to be separated from those kids. I hope she gets something out of this."
Washington said he did not recognize the bloody dog when a motorist signaled him to stop Nov. 21. He said he had checked his truck and trailer, used for a landscaping business, before leaving home that morning and the dog was not visible. A surveillance video at his apartment complex confirmed his account.
He said he began to wonder, after seeing the injured dog on TV, if it could be the puppy he gave Johnson's 5-year-old daughter some months before. He said Johnson previously asked him to take the animal back, but that he told her his apartment did not allow pets. He said that after the incident, he called her to ask if she still had the puppy; he said she told him she did.
But after he notified police of his nagging suspicion, he said, a review of the apartment video showed her car, and her teenage son tying the dog's leash to the hitch the night before.
The dog, named Trooper by his rescuers at the Humane Society of Missouri, is expected to recover and be put up for adoption. He is now six months old. The Humane Society said it worked on the case closely with St. Louis Police Officer Louis Naes, who specializes in animal abuse crimes.
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