Man who punched dog barred from having pets for 1 year

A Monitor Township man who punched his dog then threatened to shoot his intervening neighbors is barred from having pets for the next year.

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Bay County Circuit Judge Joseph K. Sheeran on Monday, Oct. 23, sentenced 28-year-old Ryan F. King to 60 days in jail with credit for 44 days already served. Once he's released, he is to be on probation for the next year.

While on probation, King is to attend anger management classes. The judge also prohibited him from having a pet or animal in his care for the duration of his probation.

King in August pleaded guilty to one count of assaulting, resisting or obstructing police, a two-year felony. In exchange, the prosecution did not seek a habitual offender sentencing enhancement and dismissed misdemeanor charges of cruelty to or abandonment of one animal and malicious destruction of property less than $200.

Police reports contained in court files state that troopers responded to a home in the 3700 block of South Swiss Drive in Alpine Village Mobile Home Park. A 59-year-old man had called 911 to report that he, his wife, and a male neighbor were holed up in their house due to King, their neighbor, having threatened them with a weapon.

Upon arrival, troopers spoke with the caller, who said King's pit bull had come onto his porch. The man gathered up the dog and handed it over to King a few seconds later. While on his neighbors' property, King grabbed the dog by its collar, yanked it off the ground, and punched it six to eight times in the face with a closed fist, the neighbor told police.

When the neighbor told him to stop, the 28-year-old King responded that he could "do whatever the (expletive) I want to my dog," the neighbor told police.

As they argued, King began ripping boards off a nearby dog house, flipped two glass patio tables, threw a plastic table into the street, and pulled a decorative shepherd's hook from the ground and bent it, court records show. The older man told King to leave his property, at which point King replied that he was going to fetch his gun and come back to "take care of all of you," court records show.

King did leave the man's yard, but came back a half-hour later. The neighbor told police he, his wife, and another neighbor stayed in their home and called 911. He said he never saw a gun, but was in fear for his life.

The man's wife and his neighbor gave police matching accounts.

Troopers went to King's trailer and encountered his father, who said his son wasn't home, but that he'd recently called him to apologize. When the dad asked King what he was apologizing for, his son said "because he was probably going to jail tonight."

As police spoke with King's father, King walked onto the property. Noticing the police, he took off running. A trooper chased him through several yards before catching him and placing him under arrest.

King is on disability and his only source of income is a monthly $735 Social Security payment, defense attorney Andrea J. LaBean previously said.

King has a lengthy criminal record in Bay County, with convictions of malicious destruction of property, assault and battery, indecent exposure, drunk and disorderly conduct dating back to 2011. As of Oct. 23, he still owes $2,101.81 in court fines and costs.