Police Search For Man Who Kicked Dog In Hull

HULL (CBS) - Who would deliberately kick a 10 pound dog in the head? Police in Hull are trying to answer that question after a Yorkie was injured so badly it had to have one its eyes removed.

"He hit her so hard, kicked her so hard that it severed her eyeball," Kim Norton said of Cleo, her family's dog.

It was last Tuesday night when Kim's husband Jim let Cleo run on the beach not far from their house near Nantasket Beach. "So he bent over to pick up her mess and she ran ahead and he heard her yelping, and [he] saw a big guy and said, 'Did you just hurt that dog?' And he said, 'Yes, I just kicked that dog. That dog should be on a leash,'" Kim said.

Injured, Cleo ran home by herself, while Jim tried unsuccessfully to chase the man down. "My husband described him as six foot, 200 pounds," she explained.

Hull Police Animal Control Officer Ashley Mills couldn't believe it when she got the call. "If they're going to kick a 10 pound dog, you can only imagine what they would do to somebody if they got incredibly angry at them," Mills said. "This person wound up and kicked it like a football."

Thanks to Officer Mills and others, the Norton's have gotten a lot of help since the dog was injured. Businesses like the Fox and Hound Pet Care in Hingham started collecting money to help offset a roughly $3,000 veterinarian bill. Word spread through social media as well. "We had a little girl who the day she found out about it, she went around her neighborhood and she raised $400," Officer Mills said.

Kim and her family are grateful for the incredible outpouring of support. They're still shocked this happened at all, but relieved the dog they call Cleopatra, the queen of their house, was well enough one week after the attack to come back home. "You have to be an evil person to do that to her because she is adorable," Kim said holding Cleo.

When caught, Officer Mills said the man responsible will face an animal cruelty charge. "Massachusetts is very stringent and they prosecute at the highest level for something of this nature," Mills said.