Redmond man gets 3 months for choking dog

Published 10:40 am Friday, December 13, 2019

BEND — A Redmond man received three months in jail for driving drunk to McDonald’s and choking a Chihuahua-type dog in the parking lot.

Jonathan Thomas Bailey was sentenced Thursday in Deschutes County Circuit Court, five months after he displayed such rage at the 15-pound animal it left witnesses in tears, according to court documents.

“You understand you can’t hit a dog, right?” Judge Ray Crutchley asked the defendant. “You take a dog in, you got to care for it, you got to find a way to train it. But you can’t hit it.”

Bailey, 36, pleaded no contest to driving under the influence of alcohol, attempting to commit a felony and second-degree animal abuse.

At the time of Bailey’s arrest, he was on probation for two earlier convictions. The DUII-animal abuse arrest represents a violation of his probation, which explains why he’s been incarcerated beyond his 90-day sentence.

In addition to the jail time, Bailey was ordered to pay $1,000 restitution to the Humane Society of Central Oregon and not own a pet for five years.

On June 9, a caller told Bend Police that an enraged man — Bailey — was in a Bend McDonald’s parking lot and choking a small dog in his car so its tongue was sticking out of its mouth.

Bend Police officers arrived and noticed several signs of impairment in Bailey, and asked him to perform field sobriety tests.

After doing poorly on the tests, Bailey was taken to the Bend Police station, where his blood alcohol level was found to be 0.08.

“We would like to note to the court that the defendant did express concern for the welfare of the dog and wanted to make sure the dog was taken care of when the dog was removed from him,” said Marc Miller, a Deschutes County deputy district attorney.

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