Atlanta Falcons cut linebacker Prince Shembo after he was arrested and charged with killing ex-girlfriend's dog
http://www.oregonlive.com/nfl/index.ssf/2015/06/atlanta_falcons_cut_linebacker.html
The attorney for the Atlanta Falcons player who was cut after allegedly kicking and killing his ex-girlfriend's dog in April says the player never meant to kill the dog.
"He didn't mean to kill the dog," attorney Jerry Froelich told reporters Friday.
Froelich said linebacker Prince Shembo owns a dog and has never hurt it, and that he "was in tears" about the charge and release from the team.
The injuries to the Yorkshire terrier were extensive. According to police, the dog had a fractured rib, fractured liver, abdominal hemorrhage, thoracic hemorrhage, extensive bruising and hemorrhage in the muscles in her front leg and shoulders, head trauma, hemorrhage and edema in lungs, hemorrhage between the esophagus and trachea, and hemorrhage in the left eye with internal injuries. The dog died from blunt force trauma.
Denicia Williams called police on April 19 to report that her ex-boyfriend had killed her dog, Gwinnett County Police in Georgia said in a news release Friday. Williams told police she had taken her Yorkie, named Dior, to Shembo's apartment on April 15. At some point, she left Shembo alone with the dog, and, when she found the dog later, the dog was unresponsive.
Froelich told reporters that Shembo said he was putting the dog in its cage and he kicked it after it bit his hand. The 6-foot-2, 254-pound Shembo allegedly told his girlfriend that he kicked the Yorkshire terrier. The woman later broke up with him.
"When you're a small dog, it doesn't take much with the size he is," Froelich said.
The Falcons wasted little time before cutting the second-year linebacker after he was arrested and charged with aggravated cruelty to animals. According to the Atlanta Constitution-Journal, the Falcons cut the 23-year-old Shembo within two hours after the arrest.
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