{"id":262392,"date":"2026-05-07T19:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T19:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/262392\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T19:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T19:08:14","slug":"florida-man-accused-of-strangling-puppy-suffering-from-cocaine-induced-seizure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/262392\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida man accused of strangling puppy suffering from cocaine-induced seizure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/dog-cocaine-main.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-v-7d0efd03=\"\"\/> article <\/p>\n<p data-v-7d0efd03=\"\">John Burt Sparhawk, 62, was taken into custody by Martin County deputies on a warrant for animal cruelty. Witnesses reported seeing Sparhawk strangling and repeatedly lifting a 5-month-old puppy off the ground by its leash. Courtesy: Martin County Sh <\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">JENSEN BEACH, Fla. &#8211; A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Florida<\/a> man was arrested, and a puppy is in protective custody at the Humane Society after deputies said the dog was exposed to cocaine and being strangled.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\">The backstory:<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">According to the Martin County Sheriff\u2019s Office, witnesses reported hearing a five-month-old beagle mix crying as John Burt Sparhawk, 62, held it above his head, trying to strangle it.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Another witness reportedly told investigators that Sparhawk wrapped the dog\u2019s leash around its throat and repeatedly lifted the dog off the ground by the leash.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">According to the witness, the puppy was choking and trying to bark but could not, and would cry each time it was released back onto the ground.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/jensen-dog-resized.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\">A 5-month-old Puggle puppy sits in the back of a Martin County Sheriff\u2019s Office patrol vehicle after being rescued from an animal cruelty situation. Courtesy: Martin County Sheriff&#8217;s Office. <\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Deputies said Sparhawk claimed the dog was having a seizure before he walked away and told neighbors to take it to a hospital.<\/p>\n<p original-article-post=\"\" origination_station=\"WTVT\" data-v-ec26887a=\"\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Dig deeper:<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">A deputy immediately took the dog to an emergency veterinarian hospital, where medical staff said the animal\u2019s medical episode was triggered by cocaine exposure.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">Sparhawk reportedly told deputies that the puppy may have eaten something bad in the woods, which caused its seizures, but veterinarians confirmed the dog\u2019s condition was consistent with cocaine exposure.<\/p>\n<p> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/john-burt-sparhawk-mug-side-by-side.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p data-v-2fe2fe3e=\"\">John Burt Sparhawk, 62, is taken into custody by Martin County deputies on a warrant for animal cruelty. Courtesy: Martin County Sheriff&#8217;s Office <\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">He was arrested and charged with animal cruelty.<\/p>\n<p data-v-871f4c88=\"\">The puppy is in protective custody with the Humane Society of the Treasure Coast.<\/p>\n<p class=\"group-source-paragraph\" data-v-4fbf7207=\"\">The Source: This article was written with information posted on social media by the Martin County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/us\/fl\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Florida<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fox13news.com\/tag\/crime-publicsafety\" class=\"tags-tag\" data-v-871f4c88=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Crime and Public Safety<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article John Burt Sparhawk, 62, was taken into custody by Martin County deputies on a warrant for animal&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[630,47,28,30,29,115,628],"class_list":["post-262392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-crime-publicsafety","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}