In Redwood City, a man accused of beating a toy poodle to death is claiming he acted in self defense when he smashed in a 12-pound dog's face with a brick. The suspect, 32-year-old Marcos Montano-Topete (who no doubt has a few pounds on the tiny canine) told KTVU that he was scared for his children's safety when he reached for the first thing he could find to subdue the creature.

According to the suspect, the pup — named "Globsis" for its tiny glove-like paws — had bit him several times before the snout-crushing incident last month. As he told reporters, he had not reported Globsis to the police or animal control because he wanted to be a good neighbor.

Prosecutors, on the other hand, aren't rolling over for Montano-Topete's story. The San Mateo County DA's office is pushing for felony animal cruelty charges, alleging Montano-Topete confronted the pup's 16-year-old neighbor on the day of the incident, telling her he was sick of the poodle coming on to his property. The girl reported the suspected canine killer to the cops once he told her he had hit her poodle. Officers responding to the scene arrived to find the dog whimpering in a pool of blood. Globsis was later put down by the Peninsula Humane Society due to the extent of its injuries.

As the San Mateo DA rightly explains: "This isn't about some type of self-defense from this 12-pound dog... He deliberately took a brick and killed this dog."

[KTVU]
[Video Report]