A man was arrested Monday in Cortez after allegedly beating his dog and threatening to stab a woman who told him to stop.
About 9:14 a.m., officer Jarrod Jewell was dispatched to Main Street and Montezuma Avenue for an animal welfare check. The caller told dispatch that a man was beating his dog and had allegedly threatened the 911 caller.
The caller, Aliyah Perez, told Jewell that she saw a man “punching and kicking” a gray and white pit bull. When she and her neighbors told the man to stop, he yelled at her, approaching her with a sharp item and saying he was going to “stab her in her fat stomach.”
Resident Heidi Brugger, who witnessed the incident, said she was walking on Montezuma Avenue when Perez approached her and told her to go inside because there was a “dangerous” man with a knife.
Meanwhile, Sgt. Kurtiss Baumgartner informed Jewell that he had contacted a man, identified as Sidney Martinez, who matched the suspect’s description. He asked that another officer respond because the situation had “escalated quickly.”
When Jewell arrived, he said Martinez was agitated and screaming at officers. The dog reportedly tried to bite them.
Baumgartner said Martinez also tried to walk away from officers and tried to fall to the ground during his arrest.
“Sidney stated that he did not have a knife, and he only patted his dog on the butt,” Jewell said.
Martinez was taken to the Montezuma County Detention Center on suspicion of menacing, obstructing a peace officer and cruelty to animals.
