Owners seeking justice for dog's alleged beating end up paying fines instead

WEST JORDAN — A family seeking justice in what they say was a dog beating instead ended up paying fines Tuesday for the charges filed against them.

The charges stemmed from a June 9 incident in which a juvenile who was passing out fliers in the Sweat family's West Jordan neighborhood allegedly called their dog over and hit the 6-year-old animal with a baseball bat, the dog's owner, Dale Sweat, said at the time.

According to police, the boy felt threatened by the dog, which witnesses said had accosted the boy multiple times. The boy used the bat as a means of protection, they said.

After police concluded their investigation, the Sweat family was charged with three misdemeanors — animal running at large, animals attacking people or other animals, and failure to attach a dog license.

A statement from the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office explained the decision to charge the family but not the juvenile, stating there was a lack of evidence to prove there was an offense "beyond reasonable doubt."

"Specifically, there is no evidence that the dog was injured, and the available evidence indicates that the juvenile's intent was to protect himself from the dog," the statement said.

The family said there was injury enough for them to pay $400 for veterinary care and pain medication for the animal following the incident. The family also said the dog, Nikki, is harmless, if a little friendly.

"Our dog likes to run up to people and smell their shoes, wagging her tail," Carrie Sweat said. "She just likes attention. That day, my daughter was just riding her bike on the sidewalk in front of our house, and our dog was running with her and just ran past the kid, barking."

Anne Davis of the Animal Advocacy Alliance of Utah called the incident a "sad and strange story." The group advocated for the dog, which Davis said is the real victim in the case. Publicity of this story, however, led to a large number of letters that may have aggravated the city prosecutor's office, she said.

"I think part of (the decision to charge the Sweats) could have been reactionary to that letter-writing campaign," Davis said. "It got to the point where (prosecutors) were sending out the same stock letter to everybody saying they have the right, but we have the right to ask those questions and to see, if there is cruelty, that it is punished appropriately."