This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A Magna man is accused of beating his girlfriend's dog to death and burying its body under a fire pit in the yard.
In charges filed Monday in 3rd District Court, Unified Police wrote that the man, 24, grabbed his girlfriend's dog by the nose and carried him outside on July 15 in front of the girlfriend's 13-year-old daughter.
The girl heard the dog cry and then go silent, police wrote. She said the man came indoors and said he had killed the dog, police wrote; he allegedly told the girl to tell her mother it had run away.
Two days later, the girl told her mother that the boyfriend had killed the dog and buried it under the fire pit in their backyard, police wrote. The man allegedly threatened to kill the woman, the 13-year-old daughter, and the girl's 12-year-old friend.
Police who were called to the house said the man kicked officers while repeatedly warning them, "Don't poke the bear, man." After he was restrained, the man admitted he had kicked the dog because the dog bit him, police wrote. The man said the dog flew into the wall and began having seizures, so the man hit the dog's head until the dog was dead, police wrote. Officers found the dog's body under the fire pit.
The man was charged with third-degree felony torture of a companion animal and seven misdemeanor charges: one count of resisting arrest and two counts each of threat of violence, domestic violence in the presence of a child, and assault against a peace officer.