Man charged with animal torture after Edgewater community seeks justice for abused dog

CHICAGO (WLS) — A community on the city’s North Side helped find justice for an abused dog.

A suspect is now facing felony charges.

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It was almost a year ago, when Brianne Coleman was walking her dog Zeus in Edgewater’s Berger Park when Zeus suddenly stopped.

“Zeus was very distracted by the rocks,” Coleman said. “And I looked down like, ‘Come on, dude. Let’s go.’ And he just looked at me like, ‘No, you come here.'”

Nestled in the rocks was a 6-month-old lab in very bad shape.

“And I was shocked at first,” Coleman said. “I’m like, ‘Come here dog, are you okay? Are you okay?’ And he just sat there and he didn’t move.”

She took the dog she named Rocky to a vet to get help, where they found out his hips were shattered, and the rest of his body was even worse.

“All his ribs were in various stages of healing,” Coleman said. “Both of his knees and his back legs were shattered… And he was only six months old. So he had gone through this for an extended period of time.”

Coleman reached out to the Edgewater community and started a GoFundMe page, raising $21,000 to cover Rocky’s medical bills before she found him a new home with a Chicago couple. But determined to find the abuser, she kept going.

“I wasn’t going to just let this happen, like not do anything,” Coleman said. “And so I started asking neighbors.”

It turns out the dog’s original owner, lived in Coleman’s building, so her and neighbors tracked down surveillance video of the owner with Rocky.

“They had video footage of him leaving the service elevator with the dog and coming back a few minutes later without him,” Coleman said.

Last month, Chicago police arrested 29-year-old Benjamin Wilkins, who now faces felony charges for animal torture and aggravated cruelty to animals.

Coleman said this is all thanks to the community who rallied around Rocky.

“It was from this community, they showed up and showed out,” Coleman said. “And I have never I have never been part of such a beautiful community of people.”

Coleman said Rocky has 90% of his mobility back and that the money left over from the GoFundMe was donated back to local dog organizations.