Man accused of abusing second dog

A Tucumcari man awaiting a second jury trial this summer on an animal cruelty charge was booked into the county jail last week after being accused of abusing a second dog and resisting police during his arrest.

Ralph Fletcher Jr., 30, is charged with extreme cruelty to animals and resisting, evading or obstructing an officer (fleeing, evading or attempting to evade).

The cruelty count, which alleges Fletcher “did intentionally or maliciously torture” an animal, is a fourth-degree felony that can lead up to 18 months in prison or a $5,000 fine. The resisting charge is a misdemeanor.

According to a complaint filed April 28 in magistrate court by Tucumcari Police Cpl. Herman Martinez, he and other officer were sent to the 500 block of East Aber Street to check a report on a subject beating an animal.

Martinez said he heard a man yelling and walked to the back of the house where he could see him.

“The male subject was hovering over the brindle pitbull dog,” he wrote. “(H)e then raised his right hand which he had a chain style leash striking the dog twice in the back of the head neck area.”

Martinez wrote after Fletcher hit the dog twice, he grabbed it by the neck and yelled: “Don’t you f—--- bite me. I will bite you back.”

Martinez said his fellow officer yelled at Fletcher, and Martinez jumped over a fence.

“The male subject then noticed the presence of the officers and began to talk nice to his dog, saying ‘Come on girl,’” Martinez wrote.

Fletcher denied hitting the dog while holding the chain in his right hand. Martinez told Fletcher he saw him strike the dog and grabbed his wrist to detain him. Fletcher pulled away and ran into his home. In the living room, officers gave commands to Fletcher to get on the floor; he did not do so and continued to deny hitting the dog. The two officers eventually placed handcuffs on Fletcher and arrested him.

Fletcher was booked into the Quay County Detention Center later that evening and remained in custody there Monday morning.

Early last year, Fletcher was charged with a felony count of extreme animal cruelty after being accused by another Tucumcari police officer of choking and injuring a pitbull puppy. A jury of nine women and three men deadlocked 9-3 during Fletcher’s trial in December.

Fletcher is scheduled to face another jury trial in August on a misdemeanor count of animal cruelty in the case, according to online court records.

An email to the attorney who represented Fletcher on the first animal-cruelty case, Brett Phelps of Las Vegas, was not returned.

The first puppy, which police confiscated from Fletcher as his case wound through the court system, recovered from its injuries and was adopted by someone in Santa Fe, according to Kathi McClelland, president of Paws and Claws Animal Rescue of Quay County.