A Keystone Heights man was arrested on an animal cruelty charge after a neighbor’s Ring camera recorded him beating his 15-week-old Great Dane puppy, according to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.
Sam Martin Chambers, 52, faces a misdemeanor charge in the Aug. 31 incident, according to an arrest warrant affidavit obtained by HomeFetch.
Chambers walked the puppy, a gray and brown mottled Great Dane named Scarlett, on a leash to a neighbor’s home on Hiawatha Street that evening and asked whether his dog could play with hers, the affidavit said. The neighbor told him it wasn’t a good time and went back inside.
Shortly after, the neighbor heard the puppy yelping and crying, Detective William Martinez wrote. When she went out to check, Chambers told her the dog didn’t want to leave, according to the affidavit.
The yelping started again after the neighbor went back inside the house. She checked her Ring camera and saw Chambers whipping the dog with the leash, the affidavit said. She called deputies, but Chambers left before they arrived.
The footage shows Chambers striking the puppy about eight times with the leash across her back and shoulders, Martinez wrote. He also kicked her, then picked her up and threw her, according to the affidavit.
The puppy can be heard yelping and crying throughout the video and can be seen pulling away and cowering from Chambers, Martinez wrote, adding that the acts “caused unnecessary torment to the puppy.”
Investigators tried several times to reach Chambers without success, according to the affidavit. On Sept. 9, Chambers’ girlfriend allowed Martinez and Clay County Animal Services officers see the puppy, who appeared to be in good health with no apparent injuries, the affidavit stated.
Chambers later called Martinez and agreed to a phone interview. He told investigators he was training Scarlett but had never trained a dog before and admitted he went “too far” trying to get her to leave the neighbor’s yard, according to the affidavit.
He also said he was signing the puppy over to his girlfriend.
Dr. Jennifer Green, the in-house veterinarian at Clay County Animal Services, reviewed the surveillance footage and found Chamber’s actions “could have possibly caused harm and/or injury, including psychological and physical harm, to the puppy,” the affidavit said.
Animal cruelty is a first-degree misdemeanor in Florida, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.
Chambers was arrested Sunday and booked into the Clay County Jail on a $5,002 bond, according to jail records. It was not immediately clear whether he had been released.
