10-year-old Texas boy to be charged with felony in fatal dog beating

Photos from Facebook show Cookie, a dog allegedly beaten to death by a 10-year-old boy in Fort Worth on May 11, 2015. The boy is expected to be charged with delinquent conduct/animal cruelty-torture, a state jail felony punishable up to two years in prison. less Photos from Facebook show Cookie, a dog allegedly beaten to death by a 10-year-old boy in Fort Worth on May 11, 2015. The boy is expected to be charged with delinquent conduct/animal cruelty-torture, a state ... more Photo: Screenshot Via Facebook Photo: Screenshot Via Facebook Image 1 of / 65 Caption Close 10-year-old Texas boy to be charged with felony in fatal dog beating 1 / 65 Back to Gallery

A 10-year-old boy from Fort Worth will face a felony torture charge after allegedly beating a neighbor's dog to death with a stick.

The boy allegedly cornered Cookie, a 15-pound cavalier-poodle mix belonging to the family of neighbor Jennifer Johnson Knittel, on another neighbor's porch and beat him to death with a stick on Monday, Knittel said in a Facebook post.

Fort Worth Police Sgt. Steven Enright told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram that police intended to charge the boy with delinquent conduct/animal cruelty-torture, a state jail felony punishable up to two years in prison.

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Knittel said a neighbor witness told police that she saw Cookie and another dog hiding underneath a truck. The witness later returned to find Cookie dead on the porch with the boy standing by.

Animal control officials later told Knittel that the dog suffered a crushed skull and severed spinal cord, the Star-Telegram reported.

"We are heartbroken and speechless!" Knittel said in the post.

Knittel told WFAA that she and her boyfriend had put Cookie and the family's other dog in their fenced backyard. She told the news station that she believes the boy entered the yard and chased the dogs out before beating Cookie.

The boy's father told WFAA that his son was attacked.

Since the incident, Knittel has received an outpouring of support on her Facebook page.

jfechter@mySA.com

Twitter: @JFreports