Groomer arrested after video shows him beating disabled veteran’s service dog
BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. (WISH) — A contract employee at a pet grooming business has been arrested after allegedly being caught brutalizing a dog on video.
Brevard County (Florida) Sheriff Wayne Ivey said he personally went to arrest James Cordell Doughty Suthann in the case.
“The video is so graphic that I will not post it on Facebook, but trust me when I tell you that it is one of the most difficult things I have ever had to watch in my 39 years of Law Enforcement because of the horrific and cruel way the pet was treated,” Ivey said in a Facebook post.
Suthann is accused of injuring the dog on Feb. 6. Sheriff Ivey said Suthann got upset that the dog wouldn’t stand still. Ivey said the video shows Suthann pinned the dog’s head down, then picked the dog up by its tail, then smacked it in the head with a hose. Ivey said the dog’s tail was rotated all the way around and broken so bad that it had to be amputated.
The dog, named “TT,” is an 8-year-old German Shepherd and a service dog for a disabled veteran with PTSD.
“If you hurt an animal in Brevard County I will personally walk you into our jail and slam the door behind you!!” Ivey said in the Facebook post.