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WEBVTT SAW 3 PEOPLE TORTURING ATURTLE, THEY COULDN'T STAND BY.>> THE VICTIM AND HIS WIFE SAYTHEY LOVE THIS POND BEHIND THEIRAPARTMENT COMPLEX BECAUSE OF ALLTHE WILDLIFE THERE ARE BIRDS,DUCKS.TURTLES.THEY SAY WHEN THEY SAW 3 PEOPLETORTURING A TURTLE, THEYCOULDN'T STAND BY.>> THEY HAD IT OVER THEIR HEAD,IT WAS JUST ABOUT THIS BIG, THEYHAD IT OVER THEIR HEAD, ANDSMASHING IT >> GARRY BLOUGH, A NAVY WAR VETSERIOUSLY INJURED IN ANEXPLOSION DURING THE FIRST GULFWAR, REFUSED TO LET HIS STILLFRAGILE CONDITION GET IN THE WAYOF ANIMAL ABUSE, HE WOUND UPWITH A BATTERED FACE, HAIRLINEFRACTURES.>> I GOT KNOCKED DOWN ON THEGROUND ALL 3 WERE KICKING ANDHITTING ME AND PUNCHING ME OVERHERE.>> BLOUGH'S WIFE JENNIFER WASOUTSIDE WITH THEIR 18 MONTH OLDDAUGHTER WHEN SHE SAYS SHE SAWTHESE TWO ADULTS, 23-YEAR-OLDRYAN PONDER AND 18-YEAR-OLDJOHNNIE BEVERITT, AND A16-YEAR-OLD, PUMMELING THETURTLE.>> I SAW THE TURTLE WITH THEGUYS JUST SLAMMING IT FORCEFULLYON THE CONCRETE, AND I WASCRYING, MY DAUGHTER SAW IT ANDSHE WAS CRYING.>> JENNIFER CALLED FOR HERHUSBAND WHO ASKED THE MEN TOSTOP, HE SAYS THEY SWORE AT HIM,THEN TURNED ON HIM.>> I HAVE THIS BRUISE, A BROKENHAND I THINK, THE BACK OF MYHEAD IS ALL SWOLLEN.>> BLOUGH JUST HAD KIDNEYSURGERY HE HAS METAL RODS ANDPLATES IN HIS BODY AND IS PRONETO SEIZURES AND THOUGH IT WAS 3AGAINST ONE, BLOUGH TOOK THEMON.>> YOU DON'T HIT A CHILD, YOUDON'T HIT A WOMAN AND YOU DON'THIT AN ANIMAL IN FRONT OF ME.>> OTHER RESIDENTS HELPED CHASETHE SUSPECTS AWAY, THEY WEREARRESTED NEARBY AND BLOUGH WASTREATED AT THE HOSPITAL.THE TURTLE CRAWLED TO THE PONDWHERE POLICE SAY IT DIED.WE WENT TO THE SUSPECTS HOMES,NO ONE ANSWERED AND NO ONE WASIN COURT FOR THE ADULT MEN, THEYARE BEING HELD ON $15,000 BOND.IN VOLUSIA COUNTY, CLAIRE METZ,

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A disabled veteran was badly beaten in Daytona Beach when he tried to stop three people from torturing a turtle. "They had it over their head, it was just about this big, they had it over their head, and they were smashing it," 45-year-old Navy veteran Garry Blough said. Blough, who was seriously injured in an explosion during the first Gulf War, said that despite his still fragile condition, he had to intervene and wound up with a battered face and hairline fractures. "I got knocked down on the ground. All three were kicking and hitting me and punching me over here." Blough's wife Jennifer was outside the Wedgewood Apartments with their 18-month-old daughter when she said she saw two adults, later identified as 23-year-old Ryan Ponder and 18-year-old Johnnie Beveritt, and a 16-year-old, pummeling the turtle. "I saw the turtle with the guys just slamming it forcefully on the concrete, and I was crying, my daughter saw it and she was crying," Blough said. She called her husband who told us he asked the men to stop. They allegedly swore on him and then he says, they turned on him. "I have this bruise, a broken hand I think, the back of my head is all swollen." Blough just had kidney surgery and has metal rods and plates in his body. He says he's prone to seizures from the war injuries but says even though it was three against one, he took them on. "You don't hit a child. You don't hit a woman and you don't hit an animal in front of me," Blough said. Other residents heard the commotion and chased the suspects away. Police found them nearby and arrested them. They are facing aggravated battery and animal cruelty charges. Police arrived on scene in time to see the turtle crawl to the pond where it died.