LEE COUNTY, Fla. — The Cape Coral police department has arrested and charged a man with three counts of aggravated animal cruelty.
On January 31, officers initiated a traffic stop for a vehicle with several traffic violations. Officials identified the driver as Anthony Alexio Tatum. When the officers approached the vehicle Tatum was immediately argumentative and disregarded the officer's orders.
After continuing to refuse police orders officers used a department-issued window breaker to break the vehicles' windows to allow them to remove Tatum from the car and restrain him using handcuffs.
An investigation of the vehicle showed Tatum had three dogs in the bed of his truck in a covered kennel surrounded by plywood and wrapped in a tarp. The poor environment made the dogs visibly uncomfortable. Officials also said the dogs covered in feces had bloody mouths from attempting to escape.
All three dogs have been transferred into the care of Lee County Domestic Animal Services. Tatum was also transported to the Lee County Jail and is facing charges of resisting without violence, failure to register a vehicle, and three counts of aggravated animal cruelty.
