Additional charges have been filed against a suspect in a domestic violence and animal cruelty investigation, thanks to cooperation between two local agencies.
On Tuesday, Feb. 16, officers from the Bristol Tennessee Police Department responded to a report of a domestic violence incident in which the alleged suspect, John Dudley Jr., 30, of Bristol, Tenn., was accused of assaulting a woman and her 5-month-old great Pyrenees puppy.
According to the victim, Dudley became upset with the dog because it had used the bathroom in its crate. He allegedly pulled the dog from its crate by the leash, frightening the dog. When he tried to put the dog in the bathtub, it bit him. At that point, the victim alleges Dudley began to punch and kick the dog, and when she tried to intervene, he pushed her into the wall.
The victim was able to leave the residence and call the police. When police arrived at the residence, they found Dudley and the dog, which was obviously injured. Dudley was arrested for domestic violence assault and cruelty to animals and taken to the Sullivan County Jail. The dog was taken to a vet for examination and found to be suffering from injuries to its jaw and front paw, and appeared to have teeth that were lost or damaged during the incident.
The following day, Feb. 17, Dudley returned to the residence and got into an argument with the victim, at which time the police were once again called. The victim then disclosed to officers that, on a prior occasion, Dudley had held a knife to her throat, threatened to kill her, and told her he would kill everyone she loved and then kill himself if she left him.
Based on this information, officers consulted with the Sullivan County District Attorney’s office and discovered that Dudley had a prior history of assaulting the victim. He is currently on supervised probation and, as a condition of his sentence, he was ordered to stay away from the victim and have no contact with her. The DA’s office further verified that a condition of his bond release from the prior day’s arrest was that he have no contact with the victim.
Based on this information, the District Attorney’s office advised that Dudley be further charged with aggravated assault and two counts of violation of a protection order. He is scheduled to appear in the Sullivan County General District Court in Bristol on March 10 at 9:30 a.m.
