Man barks at dog, gets off in court

MURPHYSBORO, Ill., July 8 (UPI) -- A Murphysboro, Ill., man admitted he barked at a police dog, but a judge let him off with a warning not to do it again.

Adrian Davis, 19, tried to explain to Judge Charles Grace why he barked at the K9, but the judge dismissed the case because there was no other eyewitness testimony, the (Carbondale, Ill.) Southern reported.

The newspaper said Davis was cited in May for barking back at a Murphysboro police officer's "K9 partner," when the dog barked at Davis from the inside of a squad car. Officer Michael Hopkins told the judge he was inside the police department when another officer told him Davis was clapping and shouting at the dog -- and even barking at it.

Hopkins said he didn't see Davis barking at the dog, but he did talk to him about it.

"(Davis) said he wouldn't have done it if he had known it was against the law," Hopkins said.

When Davis began to explain why he did it, the judge cut him off and dismissed the case.

"I don't want to see you in here again on this kind of violation," he said.