Maryland: Donald Yearwood, 21, is accused of kicking and stomping four puppies and then throwing them down a flight of stairs before tossing their tiny bodies into a dumpster.

MARYLAND -- A Baltimore man has been charged with animal cruelty after police said he killed four puppies and threw them in the trash.

Donald Yearwood, 21, is charged with 17 counts of animal cruelty and animal abuse, according to Baltimore Police.

Baltimore Police said they were called to Yearwood's home in the 3700 block of 10th Street in Brooklyn on Nov. 9 after people said they saw him kill four puppies.

Police couldn't find Yearwood or the puppies, but police officers and animal control officers were called back a few hours later when children found the puppies in a Dumpster.

About two-and-a-half weeks earlier, animal control officers had seized a female pit bull and six puppies from the home after a child was bitten by the female dog. The officers didn't realize that there were still four more puppies in the home.

The surviving siblings of the dead puppies

During the investigation, detectives learned that Donald Yearwood attempted to feed and care for the four remaining puppies over the next two weeks (why didn't he just call animal control to come and get them to reunite them with their mother???).

According to witnesses, on November 9, 2016, Yearwood was inside the home attempting to sleep. The puppies were making noise and that is when Yearwood began to kick and stomp on the puppies. The witnesses told investigators that Yearwood then threw the puppies down a flight of stairs.

During this incident, there were several young children in the room who witnessed the attack. Yearwood then put the puppies in a box and left the location.

A surveillance video showed Yearwood tossing the puppies in the Dumpster -- one of the poor puppies was still alive at this point, but mortally injured and in horrific pain. It was still alive when it was rescued and rushed to the vet clinic, but it died of its injuries. The other three puppies were already dead by the time authorities found their tiny, broken and crushed bodies.

Police issued a warrant for Yearwood, who turned himself in at the Southern District Police Station on Wednesday night. Yearwood was taken to Central Booking and could not be reached for comment.

VIDEO CLIP: "Man wanted for killing 4 puppies" (ABC 2 News - WMAR)

(Baltimore Sun - Dec 1, 2016)