COLUMBUS-Former Polk County EMS employee Michael David Purdy, 31, filed an appeal after being convicted earlier this month of resisting a public officer in a dog mutilation case.

Purdy was convicted of one count of resisting public officer during Polk County District Court on July 12. Purdy filed an appeal on July 21, according to court records. The court date set for the appeal is Aug. 23.

Purdy was sentenced to 30 days in jail, which was suspended for him to serve one year of unsupervised probation, 50 hours of community service and court costs.

A second charge of resisting public officer was dismissed in the July 12 court case.

Purdy pleaded not guilty.

Purdy was terminated from his county employment in January after he allegedly took a deceased dog from the Peniel and Little Mountain Rd. area near Columbus and mutilated it, according to initial reports.

The mutilation, according to Polk County Sheriff Donald Hill and District Attorney Greg Newman, involved Purdy skinning and beheading the dog. The dog, named Goliath, was a Shiloh Shepherd mix the family had owned for nine years.

Goliath was hit by an ambulance on the way to an emergency call on the night of Jan. 8 and Purdy allegedly went to the scene off duty to pick up the dog.

Because the dog was deceased, Newman said there is no law against what Purdy did to the dog.

Purdy was fired from the county as a result of not telling the truth about the series of events that led to him taking and mutilating the dog, according to county officials. T

The Bulletin reached out to Purdy’s attorney for the appeal, but the call was not returned before presstime.