King County prosecutors claim Stormy J. Gage beat his female pit bull mix, Jewels, with a rock and stabbed the dog in the neck.

Earlier this month prosecutors charged the 49-year-old Auburn man with one count of first-degree animal cruelty.

According to court documents, at 3 p.m. Sept. 27, Valley Com dispatched Auburn police to Big Bend Park where a man had reported seeing another man repeatedly pounding a dog with a rock.

According to court documents, the witness later told police he had been scouting the area for a new fishing hole when he heard a rustling sound in some nearby bushes. He thought it might be a transient, so he didn’t pay the sound much attention. Then he heard a “thwack,” which he described as something being struck. According to court documents, he looked in the direction of the first sound and saw a dog in the bushes and a man later identified as Gage hit the whimpering dog numerous times with a large rock.

According to court documents, the dog escaped briefly, and as it ran by, the man confronted Gage, who allegedly told him the dog had been hit by a car and he was just trying to “put it out of its misery.”

According to court documents, arriving officers saw a large puddle of blood pooled in one area on the dirt with a blood trail leaving the area. Officers followed the blood trail until they found Gage standing near a fallen log. According to court documents, as officers got closer to Gage, they saw a dark blue sweatshirt lying on the ground, apparently covering something. According to court documents, officers asked Gage what was under the sweatshirt, and he replied that it was Jewels, and she had been hit by a car and had gone up into the fender well. An officer removed the sweatshirt and saw the dog covered in blood, with a large laceration on the right side of her neck, a lump on her right shoulder and a large cut on her head.

According to court documents, officers searching the area found a wood-handled knife and the rock apparently used in the attack, both covered with blood and dog hair.

A veterinarian at the Five Corners Animal Hospital in Burien later began emergency surgery and determined that the dog’s injuries were inconsistent with a car accident. The veterinarian also said that Jewels’ jugular vein had been cut.

Gage was jailed for two days following the incident but has since been released. He is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 19.