Waco police arrested a Waco man Monday for allegedly killing a family pet and biting into its flesh while he was under the influence of synthetic marijuana.

Waco police were called to a home on the 4600 block of Athens Avenue on June 14 where Michael Terron Daniel, 22, reportedly assaulted several people at the home, Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said.

Daniel told people at the home that he was on a “bad trip” after taking K-2, synthetic marijuana. Swanton said police also recovered evidence of the substance at the home. 

Michael Daniel told people at the home that he was on a “bad trip” after taking K-2, synthetic marijuana, when he attacked a dog.

Witnesses told police Daniel got on his hands and knees and chased a neighbor while barking like a dog.

They said Daniel then struck the family’s medium-sized black dog and proceeded to strangle the dog and bite it several times, ripping away pieces of the animal’s flesh, Swanton said.

When police arrived at the scene, Daniel was sitting on the porch holding the dead dog in his lap. Daniel’s face, hands and clothes were covered in the animal’s blood and fur, police said.

“It is very bizarre,” Swanton said.

Swanton said Daniel attempted to provoke officers to shock him with a Taser, but he was taken into custody without incident. The spokesman said Daniel was not arrested until Monday because police were completing their investigation of the matter.

Daniel was taken by ambulance to Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center for treatment for the K-2 use. Swanton did not know how long Daniel remained in the hospital.

Daniel was charged with cruelty to nonlivestock animal, a felony charge because the pet died. No bond had been set Monday afternoon.

Daniel was not charged in the reported assaults of other people at the home because the victims would not cooperate with police, the spokesman said.

Swanton said there has not been an influx of K-2 usage locally, but cases like this one are happening more frequently across the state and nation, with users having extreme reactions to the substance.

Swanton compared it to recent case in Florida where a man bit a woman several times in the face after he ingested bath salts. Swanton said there has been increasing interest by Congress to ban K-2 and bath salts.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice used an emergency scheduling authority to add the key chemicals in K-2 and bath salts to the list of controlled substances, making it illegal to possess or manufacture the substances. The agency is considering a permanent ban on the chemical.

West, Lacy-Lakeview, Lorena and Hewitt all have adopted ordinances banning K-2, along with Whitney in Hill County.

“It’s worse than LSD, it’s worse than PCP, you just don’t know what your reactions are going to be to it,” Swanton said. “It’s scary, scary stuff, because it does things to you that you can’t control, hence the case here.”

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