Friday, December 25, 2015

William Christopher White, 26, charged with animal cruelty after dragging dog to death, says it was an "accident"

SOUTH CAROLINA -- The York man accused of dragging his friend’s dog to death says it was an accident, and that he feels “like the scum of the earth.”

William Christopher White, 26, is charged with ill treatment of animals. The York County Sheriff’s Office has accused him of tying a friend’s dog to the trailer hitch of his truck on Friday and driving down the road while dragging the dog.

White contacted The Herald on Tuesday and said he’s been broken up about the dog’s death, which he said “felt like a murder.” His voice cracked as he explained he has known the dog’s owner his entire life and that the two work together. On Friday, they had just gotten back to his friend’s Pamela Road home after eating at a Mexican restaurant, and White said he needed gas for his truck.


The friend’s son gave White the leash while he went to find a funnel, and White said he tied the dog to the trailer hitch on his truck while he walked to a neighbor’s home to ask for a funnel.

That neighbor’s home had been burglarized recently, White said, and the homeowner shouted at him to get off his property.

“I walked back and was mad,” White said, adding that in a fit of anger, he cut open a plastic bottle and used that as a funnel. “I get the gas in there, I hop in the truck and leave. I didn’t see the dog, I didn’t hear the dog.”

White said he didn’t realize the dog was still attached to his truck until the owner called him.

“He called me and said, ‘Where’s my dog, Bill?” he said. “I wanted to just cry. I did cry. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I just drug his dog to death.”

Afraid to tell his friend what happened, White said he threw the dog into a gully off of a dirt road.

“I didn’t know what else to do. I didn’t want him to see it,” he said. “It felt like a murder for me. I panicked. It was my best friend’s dog.”

Deputies followed a trail of blood two or three miles to where White dumped the dog. They wrote in their report that he appeared “very upset” when he spoke with them at his home and told them “he killed his best friend’s dog and to just take him to jail.”

White said the owner knows he didn’t mean to kill the dog, and tried unsuccessfully to get the charges against him dropped, but the state wouldn’t allow it.

“What kind of sick person would mean to do something like this?” White said. “I feel like the scum of the earth because of this accident.”

A felony conviction for ill treatment of animals carries up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.

(Charlotte Observer - Sept 23, 2015)

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