Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Man Arrested With Wife’s Dead Dog In Truck

   When local law enforcement agents arrested a Winchester man early Sunday morning who had been freed from prison on an appeal bond, they found his wife’s dog lying dead in the bed of his truck.

    Deputies with the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department were dispatched to the Gang/South Park Grove Road intersection around 1:00 a.m. to investigate whether a man against whom the resident had an order of protection, was trespassing on the property. Department reports indicate that Judge Stella Hargrove had previously ordered the man not return to Lawrence County.

   When they approached the residence, deputies report that the driver of the Chevrolet S-10 truck was driving in circles in the front yard. As they approached he exited the yard at a very high rate of speed, nearly striking one police unit and narrowly avoiding a head-on collision with a second. He reportedly hit a ditch, then exited, heading west on South Park Grove Road.

   Deputies gave chase and report that the truck stalled at the Gang Road intersection. When the driver jumped out, he was ordered at gun point to lie on the ground, but declined to do so. Deputies report that he, instead, placed his hands on the side of the truck bed. It was while he was being handcuffed that deputies noticed the dead dog in the truck bed. They note in their reports that the animal was warm to the touch and that steam was rising from it, as if it had just been killed.

   The 45-year-old victim told officers that she had spent the day in Winchester with her husband, but that she had told him not to come to her home when he telephoned that evening. When she refused to allow him entrance to her home, he allegedly told her that if she got him a drink of water he would leave. She told deputies that she did so, but that he hung around on the patio, then went to her barn. A short time later she noticed he was driving in her yard. The last time she saw her dog, she reported, he was alive.

   Deputies report finding an open bottle of whiskey inside the truck, along with a second bottle at the scene.

   As a result of the incident William Tommy Massey, 46, of 25355 Highland Ridge Street, Winchester, was placed under arrest on charges that include violation of an order for protection, second offense DUI, vehicular assault, violation of the implied consent law, resisting arrest, evading arrest, cruelty to animals, vandalism, reckless driving, criminal trespassing, and driving on a revoked driver license.

   Massey is slated to answer the charges through Lawrence County General Sessions Court on July 9.

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