A Florida woman has been arrested after she allegedly “smiled” before throwing her ex-boyfriend’s dog off the 7th floor balcony of his condo in Clearwater Beach. The pug, Bucky, died on impact and 46-year-old Shelley Nicole Vaughn is facing felony charges of aggravated animal cruelty, criminal mischief, and domestic battery, PEOPLE reports.
- Clearwater Police released a statement in the aftermath of the horrific crime. “Detectives arrest Clearwater woman for throwing a 3-year-old pug to its death off seventh-floor condominium balcony on Clearwater Beach,” the department tweeted. “First, she tossed the cell phone and keys off the balcony belonging to the man she had been dating. She’s on her way to jail this afternoon.”
- The incident happened when Vaughn visited her ex-boyfriend Eric Adeson’s home uninvited. Adeson’s attorney, Katheirne Neal, said the incident happened just before noon on Sunday when Vaughn turned up and appeared “to be drunk and impaired by substances.”
- The former couple got into a fight. As Vaughn became enraged, she started throwing Adeson’s belongings off the balcony. She then picked up Bucky and threw him over the edge, with the dog landing on the asphalt of the parking lot below, killing it instantly.
- Adeson is devastated over the loss of Bucky. “Eric Adeson is absolutely devastated and heartbroken over Bucky’s horrific death,” Neal’s statement said. “There has been so much turmoil in our society these past couple years, and it seems people are getting more and more comfortable inflicting pain and harm onto others. The act that Eric Adeson says he witnessed Sunday crossed the line. We are better than this. It has to stop.”
- Vaughn allegedly “smiled” before throwing Bucky over the edge. As Adeson told WTVT, “I never thought anybody could do that. I never thought anybody would have that in them.” Adeson got Bucky as a puppy in 2019 as a companion dog to his 13-year-old puggle Sandy.
- Vaughn was arraigned on Tuesday morning. Her bail was set at $22,000 and she was ordered to surrender any weapons she had as well as wear an alcohol monitoring device on her ankle 24/7. “We felt compelled to take a bold and strong stance on this issue,” Adeson’s attorney said. “We want to send a message to Ms. Vaughn and the entire community that acts of cruelty against animals are utterly outrageous, indecent and completely unacceptable in our society.”
