Charges: Witness recordings help police ID man who beat his dog on walks in Minneapolis

Over the summer, several witnesses around Minneapolis recorded a man openly beating his dog while talking walks around the Uptown neighborhood and reported it to police and animal control.

Those recordings and a microchip in the dog ultimately led to a positive identification of the dog’s owner.

On Tuesday, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office charged Stephon Mosley Thompson, 32, with two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals after one of his dogs was found abandoned by the Minneapolis Police Department and turned over to Minneapolis Animal Care and Control.

Thompson, of Brooklyn Park, faces a maximum of 90 days in jail or $1,000 in fines on both counts.

According to the charges:

Several calls were made to Minneapolis Animal Care and Control on Aug. 6 after witnesses saw a man beating one of his dogs while on a walk with two dogs in Minneapolis. Witnesses had taken videos and photographs of the man hitting the dog, which was later identified as Subliminal, a 2-year-old Siberian husky mix.

The dog couldn’t put weight on its back right leg and the videos showed the man hitting the dog in the face with an open hand.

Two months later, Minneapolis police officers dropped the dog off as a stray at animal control. Using a microchip that was implanted in the dog, Thompson was identified as the owner.

Investigators were able to positively match Thompson with the photos and videos that witnesses had submitted of the dog being beat in Minneapolis.

Thompson contacted animal control about the missing dog and arrived to pick up Subliminal. When questioned if he hit his dog, Thompson initially denied it but ultimately admitted that he hit his dogs for discipline. A veterinarian report concluded that Subliminal had, “decreased musculature of right hindlimb” along with bloody scabs on his chin.

Thompson has a lengthy criminal history in Minnesota, including felony convictions for domestic abuse, assault, making terroristic threats and fleeing police. He also has 41 misdemeanor convictions for driving after his license was revoked to go along with two misdemeanor convictions for DWI.

He is due in court Nov. 20 to be arraigned on the charges of cruelty to animals.