Trial for the death of a police dog
A man who survived a New Year's Eve bridge plunge into San Diego Bay at the end of a police chase from Oceanside has been ordered to trial for the death of a police dog taken over the span with him.
Superior Court Judge Joan Weber ordered Cory Nathaniel Byron to trial for drunken driving, recklessly evading police and willful harm to the police dog. If convicted, Byron could be sentenced to more than four years in prison.
The allegedly suicidal 27-year-old Vista man was surrounded by police when he went headfirst over the bridge railing with the dog's teeth imbedded in his left upper arm. Byron survived but Stryker, the police dog, was killed.
Video of the 200-foot plunge, taken from a police helicopter, was shown during Thursday's preliminary hearing at San Diego County's Vista courthouse.