John walked his beat with an outward grin masking the inner worry of a mother. He didn’t know why he was so worried. He was in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the country, where Crime was almost a foreign concept. If that wasn’t enough, it was a Sunday…and nothing usually happened on a Sunday.
Right then, his radio went off, almost as if the universe had chosen to play a sick cosmic joke on him. As soon as he had answered, the operator alerted him to a possible disturbance in the area. Sweating nervously, John cut across the street, veering towards a completely different part of the neighborhood.
He did not have to wander long to find the cause of the commotion. A large crowd had gathered next to a picketed fence. Some of them were on their phone recording, whilst the rest watched in horror, seemingly rooted to the ground.
Being a ten-year veteran on the force, John had seen things no man should ever have to witness. None of it prepared him for the sight he stumbled upon after elbowing his way to the front. A middle-aged man knelt before them, stark naked, save for the shoes on his feet. He was tagging at a whimpering puppy’s collar. Unsurprisingly, the animal would not budge. It looked positively terrified. John could also make out bruises and welts along its face.
“Sir,” John bellowed sharply, leaping over the picket fence. “I need you to step away from the dog,” he added, approaching the man cautiously.
The man’s eyes found John. They were glazed, bloodshot, and terrifying Suddenly, the man’s hands found the puppy’s neck as he began to choke it. John sprung into action, pulling the man off the semi-conscious dog and wrestling him to the ground. John put the man in handcuffs, dragged him off his feet, and marched him towards his service vehicle amidst cheers and adulation.
