A Bayfield man who failed to appear March 31 in Montezuma County District Court for allegedly dragging his dog behind his Jeep on Colorado Highway 145 north of Cortez is now wanted on an arrest warrant.
Dustin Edward Martinez allegedly left his dog mutilated and near death after the November incident on Colorado Highway 145.
He faces a first-degree misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals, said 22nd Judicial District Attorney Matt Margeson.
Martinez refused to have his dog euthanized after a witness transported him and the dog to a veterinarian’s office, according to a Montezuma County Sheriff’s Office incident report.
It is believed that the young black Labrador later died because of the severity of its injuries, Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nowlin previously told The Journal.
The Journal previously decided not to publish photos of the dog because of the severity of its injuries. Photos showed the dog bloodied, with its fur rubbed away to the bone in several areas of its legs. The dog’s legs were bent unnaturally, while a sling appeared to hold one leg to its body.
Nowlin previously said he found no reasoning behind Martinez’s actions.
It is not the first time Martinez has been in trouble with the law.
In 2005, Martinez pleaded guilty to sex assault of a child and contributing to the delinquency of a minor in La Plata County.
In 2019, Martinez was suspected of careless driving resulting in a head-on crash on U.S. Highway 550 south of Durango and just north of the New Mexico border, said 6th Judicial Assistant District Attorney David Ottman.
Martinez was driving on the wrong side of the divided highway when he collided with a Toyota Tundra carrying a brother and a sister from Farmington, who were treated and released at Mercy Hospital.
In the animal cruelty case, a woman was driving south on Colorado Highway 145 when she noticed Martinez’s red 2007 Grand Cherokee Jeep pulling something as it traveled south on Highway 145 from Colorado Highway 184, according to the incident report.
As she got closer, she realized the Jeep was dragging a dog.
She then urged the driver to pull over, noticing the dog was severely injured, the report said.
The woman urged Martinez to take the dog to an animal clinic, and when that facility was too busy to treat the dog, she drove Martinez and his dog in her own car to Vibrant Pet Animal Hospital in Cortez, the report said.
There, the veterinarian told Martinez that his dog should be euthanized because “mutilated trauma was not survivable” – at which point Martinez became angry and left with the dog, the incident report said.
