YORK COUNTY — Police have charged a 53-year-old former New Freedom resident with kicking his girlfriend’s dog to death in April, according to a criminal complaint.
Earl Carl Allen, of the 100 block of Pine Street in York, is charged with aggravated cruelty to animals and cruelty to animals in connection to an April 23 incident that occurred on the 100 block of N. 3rd Street in New Freedom.
According to police, Allen is accused of killing his girlfriend’s 9-year-old Yorkshire terrier. The dog, named Leo, was in Allen’s care at the time, while his girlfriend was at work, police say.
The victim reported that at about 3:45 p.m. on April 23, her mother received a call from Allen, who told her she needed to come home. Allen, who sounded “out of breath slightly,” said something had happened to Leo, and that the dog was bleeding out of its ear.
The victim’s mother returned home just before 4 p.m. She told police she found the dog in his bed, with a large blood clot on his ear. The dog was motionless, with its eyes open. The victim’s mother asked Allen to take the dog to a veterinarian, but Allen said he couldn’t, stating that he had to go to work, according to the criminal complaint.
The victim’s mother took the dog to Pretty Boy Veterinary Hospital, where the victim worked. There, police say, the dog was pronounced dead. A preliminary investigation performed by the veterinarian found that the dog had suffered skull fractures, and that there were no bite or puncture marks or other apparent injuries on the dog.
Police discovered Allen was home alone with the dog all day, so they questioned him. Allen adamantly denied having anything to do with the dog’s death, according to the criminal complaint. He initially told police he was cooking at the stove and had moved the dog to his bed from next to the stove. At some point, Allen claimed, all of the dogs in the residence began barking, and Leo became injured and ran upstairs. When Allen went to look for him, he claimed, he found the dog lying injured at the bathroom door.
Later, according to police, Allen changed his story and claimed he was in his bedroom with the door closed when the dogs began barking. When he came out of the bedroom, Allen told police, Leo ran past him and collapsed at the bedroom door.
In both variations of the story, police say, Allen said he placed the dog in a bed and called the victim’s mother.
The next day, according to the criminal complaint, Allen returned to the police station to inquire about his residency rights at the victim’s home. He again denied having anything to do with the dog’s death, police say.
Police then contacted the Penn State Animal Diagnostic Laboratory System to perform an autopsy on the dog, which found that the animal had suffered several broken bones to its head and face, a ruptured left ear drum, hemorrhaging to its eye and brain, multiple contusions, and a broken rib. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma to the head, according to the criminal complaint.
Police contacted Allen again on July 7, and Allen allegedly admitted that in his initial statements to police, he had only told “about 70 percent of the truth,” and that “the dog was dead because of me.”
Allen then said he had been showering when a motorcycle went past the home, causing all the dogs to bark. While toweling off after his shower, Allen said, he opened the bathroom door. Allen said he felt hair at or on his feet and kicked, because he didn’t know what it was. He couldn’t see, because he was toweling off his beard and had his face covered by the towel, Allen claimed. When he removed the towel from his face, Allen told police, he found Leo lying at the door.
Allen later said he was wearing steel-toed boots at the time, then later claimed they were steel-toed shoes. Asked by police how he could have felt hair on his feet if he was wearing boots or shoes in the shower, Allen allegedly claimed the hair was actually touching his ankles.
According to the criminal complaint, police determined that Allen’s constant changing of his story indicated that was still not being truthful, and that the dog had died of non-accidental blunt force trauma to the head.
