By: Patti Weaver
(Stillwater, Okla.) — A Stillwater man has been charged with fatally beating his girlfriend’s 12-pound Chihuahua at her apartment while she was at work.
Andrew Eugene Fields, 30, has been ordered to appear in court March 12 on a felony animal cruelty charge, which carries a maximum penalty of a five-year prison term on conviction. Fields remains free on bail.
According to Stillwater Police Detective Sherae LeJeune’s affidavit filed in court records last week, Fields’ girlfriend reported to Stillwater Animal Welfare on Jan. 29 “a possible animal abuse by her boyfriend, Andrew Fields, which caused the death of her pet dog.”
She explained that two months earlier, her boyfriend was at her apartment with her seven-year-old, 12 pound long-haired Chihuahua named Sally while she was at work, according to the detective’s affidavit.
“When she arrived home, she noticed something was wrong with Sally. Andrew admitted he punched Sally because she bit him while he was giving her a bath,” the affidavit alleged.
“On the evening of Monday, Jan. 28, 2019, she returned home from her first job. Andrew was at her apartment with Sally. At that time, Sally behaved normally; nothing was unusual.
“At 9 p.m. she left for her second job and returned home around 11:30 p.m.” to find her dog lying on the woman’s bed exhibiting unusual, distressed behavior,” including heavy panting, white gums and inability to stand on her own, along with having a wet coat, the affidavit alleged.
She stayed with her pet until the dog died at about 1 a.m., according to the affidavit.
She “was very distraught, but Andrew would not console her. He did not go into the bedroom until (his girlfriend) placed Sally’s body in her crate in the living room,” the affidavit alleged.
When she questioned her boyfriend about what happened to her pet dog, “he said he did not notice anything unusual,” the affidavit said. “Andrew said he did place Sally on their bed, despite her having her own bed to lie in,” the affidavit alleged.
His girlfriend noticed that her pet’s eyes appeared abnormal and she had difficulty seeing, a behavior that was not present prior to her leaving for work, the affidavit said.
When Fields agreed to be interviewed on Feb. 18 at the Stillwater Police Department, “Andrew explained that Sally did not like him.
“Andrew admitted that on the day of the incident, he did pin Sally to the ground, then punched her three or four times and caused her to die.
“He explained that she ‘pissed him off’ and he ‘lost his cool’ because she pooped on the floor of the residence after he had just cleaned. He said she barked and whined while she was getting punched, but he did not believe it sounded like a ‘hurtful’ bark or whine,"” the affidavit alleged.
“I asked him about the time he punched Sally when he gave her a bath. He said Sally bit his finger, but it did not hurt and that was why he did not think she liked him. I asked if he punched her then. He stated ‘yeah, but I hit her in the back of the head,"” the Stillwater police detective alleged in her affidavit.
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