The incident occurred at approximately 8:45 Friday evening at Cloud Apartments, 1219 Reedy Place. Police were responding to a separate, unrelated domestic disturbance when a resident alerted them to an apartment that might be on fire.
Police report that a a pair of officers ran to Apartment 47, detecting an odor of smoke and hearing the smoke alarm activated inside.
When a neighbor reported the resident, later identified as Samantha A. Stidham, 20, might still be inside, officers forced entry through a back door.
Stidham was not located, but an approximately three-month-old puppy did crawl from beneath a bed.
It then “stumbled down the stairs,” according to the officer’s report, displaying ribs, shoulders, hips and a spine that were “grossly protruding under her skin.” The dog also had four pink sores on her shoulders.
When removed from the residence and provided nourishment by neighbors, the puppy reportedly “gulped down the food and water in a desperate frenzy.”
According to Kingsport Police Department Public Information Officer Tom Patton, the source of the smoke was found to be an oven left on by Stidham, who soon returned on foot from a convenience store.
A KPD incident reports states Stidham admitted to having no dog food in her home, saying that she "couldn’t afford" it.
However, the reporting officer notes "a large television" and multiple DVDs were observed in her living room, while Stidham also owns a cell phone and admitted to smoking cigarettes.
Due to the puppy’s “emaciated condition” and multiple sores observed on its body, Stidham was determined to have “knowingly and intentionally caused a substantial risk of death to the young animal.”
She was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals and booked into the city jail. The puppy was turned over to the care of the Sullivan County/Bluff City/Kingsport Animal Center.
SBK Director Becky H. Birdwell says the puppy appears to be a boxer-pit bull mix. Other than what may be a case of mange, it was doing well on Monday morning.
(Themonstersamongus.com - Oct 4, 2014)
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