Man charged after shooting dog then dragging it by a nylon lumber strap

HALEYVILLE  - A Haleyville man has been charged with cruelty to animals after he not only shot his neighbor’s dog but tied a nylon lumber strap around its neck and hung it by the rope out the window of a vehicle as he drove down the road in his neighborhood.
Donald Gene Nix, 57, was picked up by Haleyville Police at his residence on County Highway 62, on Thursday, Oct. 31, and charged with cruelty to animals second degree, noted Lt. Tim Steien, investigator with the Haleyville Police Department.
“That’s the only charge he’s got right now, but other charges are pending,” Steien said about the ongoing investigation.
The incident involving a Siberian Huskey belonging to his neighbor Brandon Mitchell, occurred at Nix’s residence, Steien said.
The dog reportedly came up in Nix’s yard, so Nix went inside his residence, walked back  out and shot the dog, according to Steien.
After he shot the dog, he tied a nylon lumber strap around the dog’s neck and then drove down the road holding the strap from which the dog was hanging, authorities indicated.
“He was driving the truck and holding the rope out the driver’s side window,” said Steien.
“He drug (the dog) down the driveway then drug him down the highway,” Steien said.
“He drove down the highway several hundred feet, before he turned the dog loose and left the dog in the highway,” he continued.
“That’s cruel. I’ve thought a lot about that one, how cruel it was,” Steien pointed out.
Neighbors in the area reportedly witnessed this act of cruelty to the animal, and Mitchell reportedly found his dog lying on the road just after the incident occurred, Steien noted.
Police interviewed Nix on Wednesday, Oct. 30, about the incident, at which time Nix told law enforcement the reason why he did the act was “they ought to have kept (the dog) out of his yard,” according to police.
Police returned the following day and took Nix into custody, transporting him to the Haleyville Police Department, from where he was transferred to the Winston County Jail, Double Springs.
Jail officials reported that Nix was still incarcerated as of Friday, Nov. 1, being held on a $1,000 cash bond.
*When a defendant is charged with a crime, the charge is merely an accusation until or unless proven guilty in a court of law.