Richard Van Buren (Photo courtesy: Dodge County Sheriff's Office)
WARNING: Some readers may find the details of this story disturbing.
DODGE COUNTY (WTAQ-WLUK) – Town of Chester Chairman Richard Van Buren allegedly hung a dog by its leash, killing it, after the stray golden retriever brought to him bit him, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday.
Van Buren, 55, faces one felony count of mistreatment of animals causing death for the incident Tuesday. A signature bond was set during an initial court hearing Friday. He returns to court July 31 for a preliminary hearing, court records show.
As conditions of bond, Van Buren was ordered not to possess any domesticated dogs, and any dogs on his property must be removed, according to court records.
According to the criminal complaint, while walking, a woman located a dog which appeared to be dehydrated. She was directed to take it to the Dodge County Humane Society, which redirected her to Van Buren. The town does not have a contract with the shelter, so stray animals are brought to Van Buren.
Upon arriving at Van Buren’s residence, he yelled at the dog, which was sitting in the woman’s car. She offered Van Buren a leash, but he got another one.
After getting it around the dog’s neck, he pulled it straight and choked the dog. Richard Van Buren reportedly threw the dog to the ground and said something like, “This is what we do on this farm when dogs bite.” Richard Van Buren never opened the car door and pulled it through the window. This is when the dog bit Richard Van Buren in the hand. After the pulling the dog out of the car, Richard Van Buren lifted up on the leash using both hands raised up in the air and extended outwards. The citizen witness said all the dogs’ legs were off the ground and suspended about two feet in the air. It was foamed at the mouth. She tried to intervene and begged him to let help the dog or let it go. Richard Van Buren replied something like, “No, this (expletive) dog bit me, it’s going to die.” He suspended the dog up in the air again and at this time it was limp near the cage,” the complaint states.
Richard Van Buren admitted the choke collar was “too tight for too long probably”, which is why the dog died, the complaint states. He admitted he was mad because the dog bit him and he was bleeding.
He “admitted dealing with aggressive dogs doesn’t usually “end well” and indicated he had dealt with them in the past in his capacity as town chair,” the complaint states. “In the second contact with Van Buren, Richard Van Buren said usually keeps a stray dog for seven days and after that, he “takes care of it”, which I clarified meant he shoot it with a gun.
In a social media post Wednesday afternoon, the humane society offered vague details regarding the situation and asked the community to continue sharing the dog’s photo so its owners could be identified.
“Our hearts are heavy – for this dog, for the kind person that found them, and for everyone in our community who feels the pain of animals we can’t always reach in time,” DCHS said in the post. It was paired with a picture of a quote that reads, “We can judge the heart of a man by his treatment of animals.”
The Dodge County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged this case has accrued immense attention on social media, including threatening comments made by community members. Authorities say other social media posts have been “grossly inaccurate and inflammatory.”
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