A North Texas mail carrier has been charged with animal cruelty after a family's pet, allegedly hit by a rock, had to be euthanized.
Fort Worth police said U.S. Postal Service worker Ricky Eugene Jackson turned himself in at the Tarrant County Jail Thursday afternoon. He was later released on a $3,500 bond.
Dog owner Lawrence Brown said his Yorkshire terrier named Maxwell had to be euthanized after being found critically injured May 17. Lawrence Brown has said his pet apparently wandered across the street and then he heard the dog howling.
Lawrence Brown told NBC 5 he was working in his garage when he heard a commotion and then a dog whimper.
Lawrence Brown said when he confronted Jackson, he admitted to the act.
"At the time, I didn't know it was my wife's dog. I just heard a loud yell," Lawrence Brown said. "So when I looked at the postman as he was walking up the street, I asked him, 'What did you do to that dog?' He said, 'I got me one.'"
"I said, 'You got you one? Did you mace him?' He said, 'No, I hit him with a rock,'" Lawrence Brown said.
It was then that Lawrence Brown went across the street and learned from his neighbor that it was his family's dog the mail man had been talking about.
The Brown family has mixed emotions about Jackson's arrest.
"I was so thankful to hear that, it's kind of like bittersweet because I didn't [...] I never wanted that to happen because we know him, know the postal worker personally, that's why it's like a bittersweet situation," said Taiesha Brown.
She said she thinks of her dog everyday when she comes home and Maxwell isn't there to greet her, or jump on her lap.
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NBC 5 went to Jackson's home and no one opened the door.
The United States Postal Service has not commented on the arrest.
Jackson has been on paid leave since the incident.
Editor's Note: In an earlier version of this article, NBCDFW used the wrong mug shot of a man not involved in this incident. The photo was removed immediately. We regret the error.
NBC 5's Scott Gordon, Frank Heinz, Holley Ford and Ray Villeda contributed to this report.
