A bodybuilder strangled a dog in a police car and threatened to sexually assault it.
Michael McCormack, 33, was travelling in the back of the police vehicle to his sister's house with the animal after his partner allegedly attacked him on August 4, 2020.
A court heard, however, that McCormack suddenly became "abusive" and "aggressive", Manchester Evening News reported.
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McCormack made threats that he would sexually assault the animal before choking it with its own lead, causing it not to be able to breathe properly, one of the officers in the car claimed.
The two cops travelling with him then wrangled the dog from him but the trio became embroiled in a "struggle" while driving down a busy dual carriageway.
The vehicle had to make a stop and the officers used incapacitant spray to restrain him before calling for back-up.
The man has since been convicted in his absence at Stockport Magistrates Court after he failed to attend his own trial, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest.
McCormack's partner was also arrested on suspicion of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, prosecutor James Hudson told the court.
PC Jackson from Cheshire Police, one of the two officers who were driving McCormack to his sister's home in south Manchester, said the man was "meek and mild" and "very apologetic" to start with.
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However, he claimed McCormack "became more and more aggressive" and was "talking nonsense", while the dog started "growling."
It was then that PC Jackson saw McCormack was throttling the dog.
"He was making the dog suffer somewhat," he said. "It was growling. It was clearly struggling to breathe." PC Jackson then said he wrestled the dog from McCormack and put it in the front passenger footwell, away from the bodybuilder.
"He was trying to get into the front of the vehicle," the officer said.
"He made threats. He was much bigger than I was. He was a bodybuilder. I was trying to hold him in his seat but it was a struggle."
Mr Stone, who no longer serves as a police officer, was the victim of the assault.
He said during the journey McCormack "became verbally abusive to the dog he had with him and was "making comments to the dog that he wanted to sexually assault the dog."
Mr Stone added that when the dog was taken away, McCormack started "hitting me and pushing me on my shoulder."
The former cop was then forced to get out of the car and use his incapacitant spray to handcuff the man.
"I'm not a medical expert but from my experience, it appeared he was under the influence of some kind of drug but I couldn't say what," Mr Stone said.
McCormack pleaded not guilty to causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and assault of an emergency worker at a previous hearing.
At his trial yesterday morning (Thursday, November 3), McCormack was not present and a legal representative informed the court McCormack had told him he had suffered a prolapse and was in pain.
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However, as the trial had already been delayed before due to a medical issue that McCormack never provided evidence for, the trial went ahead without him.
McCormack was convicted, and Chairman of the bench Michael Dunstan said magistrates had found the police officers to be "credible and consistent" in their accounts as they found him guilty.
A warrant not backed for bail has been issued so McCormack he can be brought to court for sentencing.
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