ORMOND BEACH, FL – A dog whose owner stabbed her in the side before leaving her at home in DeLand and threatening suicide in Ormond Beach on Thursday was recovered by Volusia sheriff’s deputies and Volusia County Animal Services officers, who took her in for treatment and put her on the road to recovery.
Animal cruelty charges are pending against the 36-year-old suspect who stabbed the black Labrador mix, Midnight. He was taken into protective custody by the Ormond Beach Police Department under Florida’s Baker Act after a brief standoff in the parking lot of the Hampton Inn at 155 Interchange Blvd., Ormond Beach.
Ormond police had responded to the Hampton Inn around 3:20 p.m. Thursday after a crisis intervention hotline alerted them to text messages from a suicidal subject. Police successfully negotiated with the subject, who was in a vehicle holding a kitchen knife, and took him into custody without incident. When he was taken into custody, he told officers he had stabbed his dog at his home on Monroe Street in the DeLand area.
Deputies went to the DeLand address to conduct a well-being check on the dog and found her in the house with an apparent knife wound to her right side. She was friendly and up and walking around despite her injury. Animal Services officers transported her for emergency evaluation and treatment and discovered she had an injury to her lung, but her condition was stable.
Midnight had a microchip, and Animal Services was able to determine the man who stabbed her was not her registered owner. The owners were contacted and advised they’d recently allowed the suspect to take her home with him. They were shocked by the attack and expressed a desire to foster Midnight after she’s well enough to leave veterinary care.
Animal Services is working in consultation with the State Attorney’s Office on the appropriate criminal charges against the defendant, who was transported to SMA Behavioral Healthcare in Daytona Beach for a mental health evaluation.
The Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Ormond Beach Police Department and Volusia County Animal Services for the professionalism, teamwork and partnership that led to the peaceful resolution of this call and the rescue of an innocent animal.
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