Fort Worth mail carrier faces animal cruelty count

TEXAS -- Fort Worth police say an arrest warrant has been issued for the mail carrier accused of hitting a couple's Yorkie with a rock, injuring it badly enough that it had to be put down.

Lawrence and Taiesha Brown told police on May 17 that their dog Maxwell was injured after wandering across the street into a neighbor's yard. Initially, Lawrence wasn't sure what happened or whose dog had been injured, and asked the letter carrier what happened.

"I asked him, 'What did you do to that dog?'" he told NBC 5. "He said 'I got me one,'" Brown says. "I said, 'You got you one? Did you mace him?' He said, 'No, I hit him with a rock.'"

Brown didn't find out the carrier was talking about Maxwell until he walked across the street and found his dog in his neighbor's yard.

The Browns called the police that afternoon and officers completed an animal cruelty investigation.
According to a statement released by the U.S. Postal Service, the carrier maintains that he was defending himself from an attack by the 10-pound dog and has been on paid leave since the incident.

The warrant for the mailman was issued Tuesday. His name will not be released, police say, until he is arrested.
(Dallas Observer - June 20, 2014)