Dog severely beaten for allegedly scratching car, man arrested for felony animal cruelty

A DeLand man was arrested and accused of severely beating a stray dog with a rock and a beer bottle claiming the animal jumped on the hood of his car and scratched it, police said.

Naaman Patrick McGregor, 37, arrested on Saturday and charged with felony animal cruelty, said he also kicked the dog like a soccer ball, his arrest report states.

McGregor is out of the Volusia County Branch Jail on $2,500 bail.

Jail for rooster killer Missouri man who stomped rooster to death in New Smyrna Beach gets jail time, probation

DeLand police said they were called Saturday to a North Marydell Avenue home where a witness said she saw three men and a woman beating a stray dog that they trapped in their backyard. The witness said the dog was being abused because it scratched a car, an arrest report states.

When police got to the scene, they found the tan Chow mix tied to a tree bleeding from the eye and nose. The dog was also wheezing from the muzzle, police said.

Police found a rock at the scene. A beer bottle had blood on it. The dog defecated itself during the severe beating, police noted in their report.

No one at the home wanted to say who beat the dog, but when the officers said everyone would be charged, McGregor said he was the one who beat the dog, the report said.

McGregor said he sent a woman to get a charger from his car but then heard the horn. He looked out and saw the dog on the hood of the car, and the woman inside the vehicle, the report states

McGregor claimed the dog was aggressive and lunged at him but police, who said they were familiar with the dog, said it was not aggressive. The woman who had been keeping the dog said she put the dog out in her fenced yard the report said.

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Florida man arrested for severely beating dog that scratched car