Dog cruelty victim greets his rescuer and accepts a treat at the animal shelter after his release from the veterinary hospital
Warning, this story includes disturbing descriptions of animal cruelty.
Suspense unfolded like a Hollywood thriller as Animal Protection Police Officer A.M. DeMilio’s body-worn camera footage played out in a circuit court trial room on April 22. The Commonwealth of Virginia’s case involved an October 2023 class 6 felony charge for the torture/maiming of a dog by its owner. The dog had been beaten about the head, choked and left for dead; concealed by rocks, clothing and brush along a wooded trail, according to testimony. If not for the rapid actions of APPO DMilio, the dog would not have survived. Ultimately, several others, officers and civilians, would join the list of dog heroes who kept this dog alive. The dog is now happily in foster care and soon will be ready for adoption.
Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul Vitale set the scene in the courtroom. A call had come into Fairfax County’s Animal Protection Police from concerned resident Jack Paul. He had encountered a couple in the woods behind his house, camping out with a dog. They told Paul the dog was hungry. Paul went to get dog food and water for the hungry dog, returning within the hour. But he found the couple and camp site gone, and heard the labored breathing of an animal covered by debris. He called it in. Others might not have bothered to call; most might not have returned with food for a hungry dog. Paul, though not knowing for sure what was under that debris, became the dog’s first hero; making sure it was not left to suffer.
Officer DeMilio’s body worn camera shows her on foot moving swiftly along the trail, responding to the call; searching. As she nears the site, the video shows a blanketed pile; the sounds of loud heavy breathing obvious, even from a distance. DeMilio begins urgently throwing off the rocks, brush, leaves, cloth, a stuffed teddy bear, repeating, “Oh Buddy, Oh Buddy, It’s going to be alright. It’s okay.” As she speaks comfortingly, the dog is barely moving; blood is visible on its head, on the stones. Its breathing is labored. The officer tries to lift the dog but realizes his weight and injuries require a stretcher. She tells the dog she will return. The video shows her pumping arms running back to the police van, then running back with the stretcher to the dog. A neighbor appears and assists in carrying the stretchered dog back to the van. DeMilio drives to Pender Veterinary’s emergency care. Her actions to quickly get the dog to medical care were lifesaving.
Alerted to the incoming injury, emergency veterinarian Dr. George Mikhael was waiting and met the police van. He described the dog’s condition on arrival as exhibiting significant pain, requiring increasing levels of sedation. He also found the dog struggling to breathe; requiring intubation and oxygen. Mikhael described a bone fracture below the eye, swelling of the eye itself, airways filled with blood, and several other injuries; injuries he described as consistent with beating and choking. He described his patient’s condition as guarded; meaning high risk of death. Mikhael and another Pender veterinarian, Dr. Rebecca Spear, would become the dog’s next heroes. Providing veterinary medical care over the course of many days, they saved the dog’s life.
What preceded the dog’s beating? The owner testified that the dog had bitten into his arm suddenly, in an unprovoked attack. The owner testified that neither he nor his partner were able to get the dog to release, until the owner says he beat the dog with a stone about the head. He further testified he believed the dog was dead and they broke camp and he sought medical treatment for the bite at a nearby hospital.
The hospital treated the man’s injuries and reported the dog bite, as required. A second Animal Police Officer responding to the hospital found the owner uncooperative and unwilling to disclose the location of the dog. Only later would the two officers connect the injured dog left for dead with the reported dog bite.
At the trial, the owner’s female companion did not appear. Others who encountered the dog over the course of the case, from the police officer through veterinary and animal shelter staff, did not experience any aggressive behavior from the dog.
In his ruling, Judge Timothy J. McEvoy inferred that the dog might have reacted in protection of the owner’s female partner, with whom the dog had a strong bond, finding the owner’s account not credible.
The cruelty case would play out over a year and a half of hearings, continuances, and grand jury certification for trial, to reach the circuit court room on April 22 and 23. The owner testified he beat and choked the dog in self defense after its unprovoked attack. Scars on his arm verify the bite which required five or six stitches. The owner justified his covering the dog by believing it was dead, and tying it to a tree “In case he got up, he wouldn’t bite someone as he bit me.” He testified he didn’t seek help for the dog because he thought it was dead.
The Commonwealth pointed to many inconsistencies in the owners testimony, and two sets of cruelty: striking and choking that was unnecessarily severe; and covering the dog and leaving it seriously injured to die in pain.
In his ruling, Judge McEvoy accepted the Commonwealth’s argument that torture had occurred and that the owner was not credible in several statements in his account of the events. However, he accepted the defense arguments that the beating occurred during the dog’s attack, acknowledging the owner’s self-defense claim. The judge explained he found abandonment of the severely injured dog “reprehensible” but that the law “does not criminalize abandonment.” He explained that failure to provide veterinary service does not rise to the level of felony cruelty under the law. The owner was found not guilty of felony cruelty.
For the same cruelty incident, a woman also was arrested Oct. 12, 2023 and charged with misdemeanor cruelty to animals, as an accessory to the same alleged felony crime. Her case, heard by the court on June 24, 2024 resulted in a ruling of “guilty in absentia.” She was assessed a $2,000 fine, plus court costs, and banned from owning companion animals in future.
The dog’s ownership was surrendered to the Fairfax County Animal Shelter in 2024. He is currently placed with a foster home and is expected to soon be available for permanent adoption. Find him listed soon with other available dogs at: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/animalshelter/adopt-dog.
He had a different name at the time of the incident. In his new life, his name is Noodles.