Surveillance video shows graphic animal cruelty incident involving ex-Mesa Police officer

Surveillance video captures animal cruelty incident involving ex-police officer

The video was taken in April 2021, and involves former Mesa Police officer Spencer Allen, who has since resigned from the force. FOX 10's Justin Lum reports.

APACHE JUNCTION, Ariz. - FOX 10 has obtained surveillance video in an animal cruelty case involving a former Mesa Police officer.

The allegations against Spencer Allen was revealed in a report on Aug. 11. According to officials with the Apache Junction Police Department, Allen dragged his own dog through the road in April 2021 with his pickup truck, took it to the vet, and claimed it wasn't his dog.

Incident seen by witness

"What sticks out in my mind is the chain wrapped around the dog's neck and the dog was trying to stop, sitting down with the paws right in front of him," said witness Eric Read.

Read said on the morning of April 9, as he drove east on 37th Avenue near Colt Road, he witnessed a pickup truck going the opposite direction, dragging a medium-sized brown dog behind it.

Read quickly made a U-turn and honked at the driver, even waving at him. The driver, identified as Allen, reportedly never stopped. Allen was off-duty at the time.

"Once he hit Baseline, taking off the way that he did, zero to 50 in about three seconds," Read remembered.

Read says another driver finally got Allen to pull over near Idaho Road and Baseline Avenue, half a mile away from where Read first spotted the dog in danger.

The police report says Allen then unchained the dog, picked it up by the scruff of the neck and threw it in the back seat.

Surveillance video shows incident

In the surveillance video, which was taken just after 11:37 a.m. on April 9, a dark quad cab pickup truck was seen dragging a chained up dog. We have decided not to show the footage in full, due to its graphic nature.

A man who ran out of a business to try and flag down Allen later called 911.

Dog taken to animal care center and veterinarian

Apache Junction Animal Control officer Casey Sheahan says Allen took the dog to Paws & Claws Care Center in Apache Junction.

"He stated that he had found the dog on the side of the road, he was being a good samaritan, but that wasn't the case," Sheahan said.

Allen was referred by staff members at the center to take the dog to a veterinarian in Mesa. When Allen arrived at the vet, the police report says he told staff the dog should be euthanized, even signing a form stating it was a stray.

The Arizona Humane Society performed surgery, but the dog had to be euthanized days later.

I was sick to my stomach because I had just witnessed a dog being dragged behind a truck and it's just one of those things that it infuriates you, that someone would actually do that," Read said.

Allen initially denied owning the dog

Former Mesa Police Officer Spencer Allen is suspected of animal cruelty

In Allen's interview with Apache Junction Police, investigators say he initially denied owning the dog, but police told him they had surveillance video and witnesses. Allen later admitted to owning the dog, named Cosmo, for seven years.

Allen later admitted to owning the dog named Cosmo for seven years, according to the report. "I had him on a leash and he's never hopped out in the seven years I've had him," Allen said, adding that he panicked and felt bad.

"But I was like, ‘He needs to be put down either way,’ so that's what I was hoping for. I should've just footed the bill,'" Allen said.

Allen, a seven-year veteran of the Mesa Police Department, resigned in May 2021 after his arrest by Apache Junction police officers. At the time of Allen's resignation, Mesa Police has began a professional standards review on him. Allen's decision to resign ended the review.