Roy Exum: Heard About Henley?

  • Wednesday, December 2, 2015
  • Roy Exum
Roy Exum
Roy Exum

Within minutes after a woman posing as “Katie Brown” posted a picture of her dog with its mouth taped shut on Facebook last Friday morning, hundreds of thousands of people became part of a global witch-hunt. Her Facebook page listed her location in South Daytona Beach and Avon, Conn. But police officers at both locations found out her real name is Katharine F. Lemansky and on Monday police tracked her to Cary, N.C., and found her and the dog.

But now we find Chattanooga has far worse. Michael Heath Henley is awaiting trial for beating his dog to death with a shoe!

Lemansky was charged on Monday with a Class 1 Misdemeanor Cruelty to Animals count and, while she maintains the Facebook picture was “a joke,” she could be facing 150 days in a North Carolina hoosegow after admitting she taped the dog’s snout “for about 60 seconds” to keep the animal from barking. Lemansky never dreamed she would become so infamous but what is the world going to do when animal lovers hear about Michael Henley?

In early October Chattanooga police officers were summoned to a house on West 53rd Street in St. Elmo after it was reported Henley had beaten his small dog to death with a shoe. According to police reports, officers found blood splattered on a wall inside the house and that Henley was “uncooperative and argumentative” before officers found the dead dog in a trash can.

Henley, believed to have been drinking at the time, said he decided to “put the dog down” after it refused to obey a command and then bit him as he grabbed it. He told police, according to a news account, “He was not going to feed and care for a dog that did not obey him.”

He told officers he didn’t have a phone to call anyone and “didn’t know of a better way to kill the dog than beat it to death with a shoe.” The Hamilton County Grand Jury has since returned a true bill. An aggravated animal cruelty charge is a Class E felony in Tennessee, punishable by up to six years in prison and a fine up to $3,000.

A hearing for Henley is scheduled next Tuesday and a trial date has been set for Jan. 26. “Animal cruelty is definitely something we need to be paying attention to,” said Jamie Lampman of the McKamey Animal and Adoption Center. “It’s definitely a red flag. People just don’t go out and maliciously kill their animals … no one just goes out and beats a dog to death … There’s something else going on in that person’s life,” she said.

“The victims are the most defenseless creatures on the planet, except for children so it is hard to grasp how anyone could maliciously inflict pain on any animal,” she said in a WRCB interview, adding, “There is no need for anybody to feel they have to put a dog down themselves. There is no reason. And it is illegal.”

Police officers in North Carolina said the dog that infuriated hundreds of thousands on Facebook appeared healthy and well-kept. “Our animal control officers said the dog and its littermate were very comfortable in their surrounding and there was no hair loss where the dog’s muzzle was taped shut,” Police Capt. Randall Rhyne told news outlets.

“Taping the dog’s muzzle was a terrible decision on Ms. Lemansky’s part,” the officer said, “and charging her with animal cruelty under North Carolina law was the right thing to do.”

When Lemansky posted the picture on Facebook, an accompanying sentence read, “This is what happened when you don’t shut up!!!” but when angry responses began to escalate, she added, “I can’t lie I did it for sixty seconds. It was time out and no more barking.”

By Saturday morning the picture had caused a flash-fire. The Daytona Beach News-Journal received over 600 telephone calls in the search for “Katie Brown” and the City of South Daytona announced, “Police have determined that this person was out-of-state for the holiday weekend. It appears the photo was taken at that location. We have information to indicate the dog is OK at this time.

The announcement also read, “The police will be in contact with this person once she returns to the city. Rest assured a full investigation will be done and appropriate action taken. Thank you for the outpouring of concern and sharing of information.”

The Connecticut Humane Society posted, “Authorities in South Daytona Beach, Florida, as well as Avon, Simsbury and Torrington Ct. have all been made aware of this sick-minded individual who posted this picture and comment,” and pictures of the truck Lemansky is said to be driving have surfaced on the Internet as well.

Good grief! What’s going to happen when they hear about Michael Henley?

royexum@aol.com


 

Dog belonging to "Katie Brown"
Dog belonging to "Katie Brown"
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