Iraq vet tortured 6-year-old boy with dog collar and filmed him carrying a backpack filled with rocks, prosecutors say
Horrifying video captured the moment an Iraq Marine veteran tortured his 6-year-old stepson by putting him in a dog collar and making him run carrying a backpack filled with rocks, prosecutors said.
Zachary Perez, 42, was caught on home surveillance footage in May holding a pink dog leash that police said is wrapped around the neck of his stepson, prosecutors say. Multiple videos, obtained by NBC South Florida, show Perez allegedly kicking the boy in the living room and inside a bedroom.
According to court records, a separate video taken outside the home showed the child running while carrying a heavy backpack filled with rocks.
Other footage showed Perez allegedly yanking the boy to the ground, chasing him with a stick and kicking him multiple times, Local 10 News reported.
The little boy was left with swollen eyes from being hit, scratches across his body and a rash on his neck from the dog collar, prosecutors said.
Perez’s abuse of the child lasted two days, according to the report.
Since his arrest in May, prosecutors say multiple victims have called their office to report similar abuse allegedly carried out by Perez. There are currently five injunctions sought against the vet, including ones for alleged domestic violence, including against his 14-year-old daughter.
Perez’s attorneys claimed that the mother of the young boy had asked for help taking care of him and gave the OK for Perez to discipline him. However, state attorneys disagreed, claiming there was no evidence to support the claim.
Perez’s mother also came to his defense, claiming he has post-traumatic stress disorder, hearing problems and has had multiple surgeries after serving three tours overseas.
“The child probably has emotional, psychological, perhaps even physical trauma and injuries that he would have suffered from this horrific abuse,” Amanda Altman, CEO of Kristi House, a children’s advocacy center, told NBC.
Altman also said it would be hard to understand why Perez allegedly acted the way he did toward the boy.
“I would be looking at the perpetrator’s own past, what happened to him,” she said. “What trauma would he had suffered that he never got the proper intervention to overcome? Certainly possible those things affected his decisions later in life.”
Perez was initially denied bail, but on June 10, he was released on house arrest. Perez pleaded not guilty and was ordered to stay away from the stepson and his mother.
He is scheduled to return to court on August 28.
