Oklahoma City man charged with animal cruelty for allegedly running over girlfriend’s puppies

OKLAHOMA -- A metro man is accused of running over his girlfriend’s seven puppies in a sickening case of animal cruelty.

Two of the dogs had to be euthanized because of their injuries.

The Chihuahua puppies were only 4 weeks old when police say the driver put them in a trash bag and ran over them while his girlfriend was away.

Witnesses only got a partial license plate number, but the suspect happened to leave a pawn ticket in that trash bag with his name on it, leading police right to him.

Police say 41-year-old Jeremy Ellis dragged the bag full of puppies from the side of his van.

Witnesses could hear their heartbreaking cries in the 700 block of N. Western.

According to police reports, the driver was seen opening the passenger door, and a trash bag fell to the ground.

The driver ran over the bag and took off.

“Somebody needs to run over him,” Ellis’s neighbor, who didn’t want to be identified, said.

That neighbor told us he knew Ellis didn’t want anything to do with his girlfriend’s puppies.

“The others would have died out here if I hadn’t started feeding them,” he said.

Ellis’s girlfriend called police when she came home to find her puppies were missing.

She told investigators that Ellis had text messaged her saying he “got rid of the puppies because they were making a mess of the house.”

Ellis didn’t tell her what he did with them.

According to court documents, she later found a puppy in the trash.

We stopped by Ellis’s house in Southwest Oklahoma City Monday, but he wasn’t home.

“When that gray van’s there, he’s there,” Ellis’s neighbor said.

Ellis’s van was parked at his home when police stopped by and took pictures of it. Witnesses identified the van as the one that ran over the puppies.

“He could’ve easily loaded them up in that van and taken them to a shelter or something,” the neighbor said.

Neighbors tell us they’re glad Ellis facing serious charges, but are left wondering how he could do such a horrible thing.

“Puppies are easy to find home for, you don’t need to kill them like that,” Ellis’s neighbor said.
We couldn’t reach Ellis’s girlfriend Monday.

Ellis is charged with seven felony counts of animal cruelty. As of late Monday afternoon, he hadn’t been arrested.

Ellis has a previous conviction for misdemeanor assault and battery.

(kfor.com - May 18, 2015)