A 52-year-old Boynton Beach man is facing a felony animal cruelty charge after police say surveillance video and witness accounts captured him abusing a black Labrador during two separate incidents near a South Federal Highway bus stop. Juan Latrez Poole was arrested after witnesses and surveillance footage allegedly showed him lifting the dog above his head and slamming it onto the ground, according to police records. The dog was wearing a red service dog vest during at least one of the incidents.
According to WPBF, police responded on September 9 to a report of dog abuse in the 2300 block of South Federal Highway. Surveillance footage from that day showed a man grab the dog by its collar and a leg, lift it over his head, and slam it onto the ground twice, police said. Officers did not find the man or the dog at the scene that day, per the outlet’s report.
The following day, September 10, police received a second dog-abuse report in the same area. A witness told investigators, per the probable cause affidavit, that a man yanked the dog’s leash, struck the animal with a bottle, and lifted it several feet off the ground by its leash. The witness described the dog as appearing terrified, shaking, and flinching, according to the account included in the affidavit.
Surveillance Footage and a Photo Lineup Tie Poole to the Scene
Separate surveillance footage from the second incident allegedly showed the man hit the dog in its side or chest with a bottle, wrap the leash around his hand, and suspend the animal in the air as it flailed. A witness later identified Poole in a photo lineup, per the same account detailed in the affidavit…