Attorney: NFL Player Didn't Mean to Kill Ex-Girlfriend's Dog

The Atlanta Falcons football player accused of killing his ex-girlfriend’s dog turned himself in to police Friday night, while his lawyer was calling the death of “Dior” an accident.

Prince Shembo, an outside linebacker for the Falcons and a resident of Buford, was booked in the Gwinnett County Jail at 8:46 p.m. Friday, according to jail records. He was released at 11:08 p.m. after posting a bond of $16,700.

He is charged with felony cruelty to animals for allegedly kicking and causing the death of the dog last month at his Buford apartment.

A tearful Shembo turned himself in to police Friday night, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported, shortly after he had been released by the Falcons.

His attorney, Jerry Froelich, told reporters it was an accident.

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“When I first met him he was in tears,” the attorney told WSB-TV. “The Falcons cut him ... he’s ya know. He didn’t mean to kill the dog.”

Froelich told the TV station the incident happened when the dog bit Shembo as he was putting it in its cage and “he reflexed and kicked the dog.”

According to police, Shembo’s ex-girlfriend Denicia Williams called police on April 19 to report that he had killed her Yorkie, “Dior,” at Shembo’s residence at the Century at Mill Creek Apartments on Mall of Georgia Boulevard.

Williams told police that she and the dog had gone to Shembo’s apartment on April 15. “At some point during her stay, she left Shembo and her dog unattended. When she later found Dior, he was unresponsive,” Gwinnett Police Cpl. Michele Pihera said in a news release Friday.

The dog died later at the Duluth Animal Hospital.

Williams told police she was talking on the phone with Shembo the next day, and during the conversation he said he had kicked the dog.

“At this point, she ended the relationship,” Pihera said.

The body of the dog was taken to the Gwinnett County Animal Shelter to undergo a necropsy on April 21. Tissue samples were then sent to the University of Georgia for further testing.

The results were completed May 28: Dior had significant internal injuries and the cause of death was determined to be by blunt force trauma, Pihera said.

Because of the inconsistencies Shembo’s account of what happened and the results of the necropsy, an arrest warrant was issued.

Accord to the warrant, the dog “had a fractured rib, fractured liver, abdominal hemorrhage, thoracic hemorrhage, extensive bruising and hemorrhage in muscles in front leg and shoulders, head trauma, hemorrhage and edema in lungs, hemorrhage between the esophagus and trachea, and hemorrhage in the left eye with internal injuries.”

The Falcons released Shembo not long after police informed the NFL team of the arrest warrant. In a statement, the team said:

“We are aware of the charges that have been filed against Prince Shembo. We are extremely disappointed that one of our players is involved in something like this. Accordingly, we have decided to waive Prince Shembo.”

Shembo, a 2014 fourth-round draft pick by Atlanta from the University of Notre Dame, was entering his second NFL season.

(Photos: Prince Shembo. Gwinnett County Jail mugshot. “Dior.” Gwinnett Police PIO)