Mailman Not Charged With Animal Cruelty

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — A grand jury has declined to indict a North Texas mail carrier charged with animal cruelty after a pet dog on his route with injured and had to be euthanized.  

The Tarrant County District Attorney's Office on Tuesday said a grand jury no-billed 48-year-old Ricky Eugene Jackson.

Jackson was charged after a May 17 incident in Fort Worth involving a Yorkshire terrier named Maxwell. Police said the dog was not on a leash. The owner, Lawrence Brown, has said his pet apparently wandered across the street, began howling and he believes the mail carrier hit the dog with a rock.

The U.S. Postal Service put Jackson on paid administrative leave after the incident. He was no-billed Sept. 3. Postal officials didn't immediately return messages Tuesday.