A black Labrador wearing a red service-dog vest was lifted off the ground, turned upside down and slammed onto pavement in surveillance footage described by Boynton Beach Police after two witnesses reported seeing the dog abused on consecutive days.
The first call came Sept. 9 from the 2300 block of South Federal Highway in Boynton Beach, Florida. A witness told police a man had lifted the roughly 50-pound dog, later identified as Rex, above his head and slammed him to the ground near a bus stop outside a Taco Bell. Officers did not find the man or Rex when they arrived.
The next morning, another caller reported seeing what police described as a nearly identical incident just blocks away. She told officers a man choked Rex with his leash, lifted and swung him through the air and struck him with a water bottle while the dog shook and cowered…