PD: Valley man beat dog with frying pan

PHOENIX - Police said a man armed with a knife and frying pan, terrorized his neighbors and his girlfriend’s dog

Inside a Phoenix apartment complex near 52nd Street and McDowell Road Monday, police said Kevin Atkinson was beating his girlfriend’s 120 pound Saint Bernard. The noise and cries of the dog alerted Atkinson’s neighbors.

“I was hearing yelping, and thumping and stuff like that. At some point I heard a kind of gurgling noise, like the dog was being choked," neighbor Jeramie Moore said.

Moore told ABC15 he and other neighbors tried to get Atkinson to stop hurting the animal, when Atkinson turned his violence on them.

“When we knocked on his door, he started screaming, 'I'm going to come out there and kill you guys!' “ Moore said. "He came out with a knife, and held it at me. I grabbed it, but he came across my neck with it."

Moore was sliced on his neck with what he believes was Atkinson’s steak knife.

When police arrived and arrested Atkinson, they searched his apartment. Inside was a bloody frying pan they said he likely used to pummel the dog.  

Neighbor Christie Packard saw the beaten and bloodied animal. She said there was blood on the Saint Bernard’s paws, face, and other parts.

"That's just awful. It breaks my heart that somebody would beat their dog like that. I don't understand why," Packard said.

When police asked him why he tortured the animal, Atkinson swore, saying he was a bad person.

"I was figuring he was drunk or something, but he did sound like he was on something," Moore said. 

Neighbors said the dog was hurt, but was walking.

"Somebody like that needs to be locked up forever,” Packard said. “It's awful, and I can't have it."

Atkinson is now in jail for animal cruelty, assaulting his neighbors, and drug charges.