WHITESBURG, Ky. (LEX 18) — A Tennessee man was arrested and will face several charges after police found 35 dogs in a minivan along with his wife, who had been living in the vehicle for two weeks.
According to The Mountain Eagle, 55-year-old Billy Coleman was taken into custody Sunday afternoon in the parking lot of Whitesburg Food City after allegedly chasing a car with his wife and two other family members inside before hitting the vehicle in a Gas-N-Go parking lot.
Police say when they arrived on the scene, Coleman and Ronald Adams, who is married to the niece of Coleman's wife, were fighting on the ground and pepper sprayed by officers.
Adams was not charged, but Coleman is accused of misdemeanors and unspecified felonies.
Coleman is being held in the Letcher County Jail on charges of fourth-degree assault, second-degree criminal mischief, second-degree disorderly conduct, and second-degree animal cruelty.
The wife, Nikki Coleman, told police she had gone two weeks without food and talked her husband into meeting her sister in Letcher County.
According to police, the sister and son-in-law met them in Whitesburg, where Nikki got into the car and drove away. That's when Coleman followed them and attempted to run them off the road. They called 911, and that's when police arrived to see Coleman and Adams fighting.
Officials say an animal rescue group was filling up a U-Haul truck at the gas station when they saw the dogs moving in the van and removed them. The rescue group will take care of the dogs until they find new homes.
