Seattle dog daycare employee charged with animal cruelty

Dog daycare employee pleads not guilty in animal cruelty case

A dog daycare employee is facing a first-degree animal cruelty charge, and court documents outline a disturbing timeline of events.

SEATTLE - King County prosecutors have charged 20-year-old Dejean Bowens with first-degree animal cruelty. He pleaded not guilty in court on Monday.

The backstory:

Seattle Police say he was working overnight at the Lazy Dog Crazy Dog kennel in Ballard on August 3 when he became irritable with a black lab named Mitch who had knocked something over.

Detectives say he brutally kicked Mitch at about 4 a.m. The dog cried out and whimpered after it was kicked and sought escape under a table. Bowens then continued to punch the dog, Mitch whimpered, and his abdomen filled with blood. He became mentally dull and eventually would not respond at all.

Police say Bowens waited an hour and 45 minutes until 5:45 a.m. before bringing Mitch to Emerald City Emergency Clinic. The emergency vet clinic found that Mitch's kidneys may have been ruptured during the assault. They attempted to revive Mitch five times with CPR but were unsuccessful, and Mitch ultimately died. They said if Mitch was brought in immediately after the assault he would have had a higher chance of survival.

Mitch's owner had dropped him off at Lazy Dog Crazy Dog the evening before she gave birth to her first child. She and her husband were supposed to pick him up on the morning of Aug. 3, but they got a call from the clinic instead. They had been taking Mitch to Lazy Dog Crazy Dog for several years with no problems.

When officers questioned employees at Lazy Dog Crazy Dog, one of them said that Bowens had called them at 4:40 a.m. crying, saying, "I messed up bad. I'm freaking out. Can you get down here now?" The employee asked what happened, and he said, "I kicked the dog". Court documents say Bowens and his brother then loaded the dog into a silver sedan and left.

Bowens remains free from custody. His next court hearing is a routine pre-trial hearing on November 26th at 1 p.m.

What they're saying:

Stephen Biles, the owner of Lazy Dog Crazy Dog, released this statement:

"Dear Lazy Dog Customers:

"On August 3, our former night person physically abused one of our boarding dogs to the point where he passed away a few hours later. The employee was terminated immediately, and we began working with the police immediately.

"We are heartbroken and outraged by this crime. We have been working actively with law enforcement to ensure that justice is served for this dog. Now that this ex-employee has been charged, we want to share with our community the steps we take to ensure safety of dogs in our care.

"First, we understand the immense responsibility entrusted to us when caring for the dogs in our facility, and we take that duty very seriously. All of us have dogs ourselves. We work here because we love dogs.

"We operate cage-free 24 hours a day. That is a unique and different philosophy. Our customers tell us that this is what they want. We care for dogs as family members in a safe, open, loving environment.

"That means that dogs are always with other dogs and with humans, so training and education are ongoing priorities for our team.

"Every new staff member completes an intensive internal training program focused on dog behavior, safe handling techniques, and care standard, a program developed by a well-respected dog behaviorist.

"Beyond this, we ensure our staff are prepared for emergency situations by providing CPR and Pet First Aid certification opportunities. As employees grow within our organization,
they receive additional training tailored to their roles, as well as ongoing performance evaluations to uphold our standards of safety and care.

"We are actively reviewing our hiring and training processes to identify any areas for improvement. Our facilities have cameras, so dogs are on film all the time, and employees are aware of this. We are working towards making our overnight cameras available to
customers. While we stay committed to strengthening our safeguards, we also recognize that we cannot always foresee or prevent the independent, unacceptable actions of any
individual.

"The actions of this former employee are in complete violation of our values, our mission, and the standard of care we have upheld for over 16 years while serving tens of thousands of dogs. We will continue to support law enforcement and hope that justice is
served for the dog.

"We appreciate that you might have questions, and we are happy to answer them. We want you to be confident in our care, and we welcome the opportunity to talk further."

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