Colorado: This is how domestic violence works. Harrison Williams, 25, threw his girlfriend's dog off 3rd story balcony, killing it. Now she denies he did it.

COLORADO -- An Aurora man is accused of hurling his fiancée's dog to its death off a third-floor balcony after he choked the woman and yanked out her hair.

Harrison Lee Williams, 24, is charged with felony aggravated animal cruelty and misdemeanor assault.

A neighbor called 911 about 7:10 a.m. on May 18 to report a domestic violence conflict involving a man and woman in an apartment at 12245 E. 14th Ave. The dispatcher could hear a physical altercation in the background, according to a police affidavit supporting Williams' arrest.

Arriving Aurora police officers found a 32-year-old woman on her apartment's third-floor balcony. She was crying, her shirt was torn and she was looking down into the courtyard at her dog dying on the ground below the balcony, the affidavit said.

The woman told police that she had been out all night with friends and had just returned home. She went to get a blanket off her bed, where her fiancé, Williams, was sleeping and he woke up, police said.

He became upset about her being out all night, accused her of being unfaithful, flew into a rage and started breaking things, the affidavit said.

Williams said over and over, "I don't care."

The woman told police Williams started pushing her around, pulling her by the hair at the back of her head and ripping out her hair extensions. An officer noted the woman was bleeding from the back of her head and had small cuts on her face.

She said Williams held down on the couch and choked her, the affidavit said.

The woman's mother and another man were asleep in the apartment and were awakened by the commotion. They pulled Williams off the woman, the affidavit said.

The fiancée said her frightened dog was cowering in a corner.

"Harrison [Williams] grabbed the dog and took it out on the balcony with him," the affidavit stated. "No one saw Harrison throw the dog off the balcony, but when he came back in he did not have the dog with him."

Williams fled the apartment. The fiancée went out onto the balcony and saw her dog lying on the ground dying three floors below, the affidavit said.

Williams are arrested two days after the incident and remains in Arapahoe County Jail. His bond is set at $30,000.

In charging documents, prosecutors say Williams knowingly killed the dog, according to our partners at the Aurora Sentinel, who first reported this story.

Police reports did not mention the dog’s name or breed.

When the Sentinel reached the fiancée by email this week, she said she does not believe Williams threw the dog and she added that police intimidated her during the investigation.

They say that a person involved with someone who is abusing them will likely leave and return SEVEN TIMES before they finally have the mental resolve to finally leave their abuser. Look at his criminal history listed below and read what he did to her that night. She is behaving like the classic domestic violence victim - he probably did one of two things: apologized and bought her a new puppy and promised to change or he threatened to kill her, her family and friends if she testified against him.

 

Williams has a lengthy Colorado criminal history, which includes prior arrests for assault, smuggling contraband into prison, dangerous drug possession, disturbing the peace, identity theft and trespassing in a motor vehicle.

On May 8, Williams pleaded guilty in an unrelated Denver case to attempting to influence a public official, court records state. As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dropped forgery of a government document and criminal impersonation charges.

A judge granted Williams a deferred sentence in this case, which would allow him to avoid jail time and clear his record if he stayed out of trouble with the law for two years, court records state.

This new arrest could place his deferred sentence in jeopardy.

(The Denver Channel - July 2, 2014)