Florida man arrested after breaking into HD, punching police dog

A shoplifting suspect in St. Lucie West, Fla., was arrested Sept. 18 after attempted break-ins at both Home Depot and Lowe’s, according to a report by CBS-affiliate Channel 12.

According to police reports, 48-year-old Mark Earl Cross cut a hole in the garden center fence at Lowe's at 10 a.m., then went across the street to a Home Depot store, where he used a hacksaw to cut a lock off a garden center gate. Police say the suspect went inside the Home Depot, but left quickly and returned to Lowe's, where he grabbed three drills and placed them next to the hole in that garden center's fence. Cross then left the store and circled around to the fence, but suspicious store employees had removed the drills before he could get to them.

Cross left the store on his bike, but was intercepted by police, according to the news report. The suspect abandoned his bike and ran into a wooded area, where a tracking dog found him. Police say Cross punched the police dog before being taken into custody; he suffered cuts to his face, chest and fingers in the scuffle.

Authorities later found a pair of wire cutters on Cross, and Home Depot employees found bolt cutters and a hacksaw next to the breached gate. 

Cross was jailed on charges of burglary of an occupied dwelling, possession of burglary tools, grand theft, criminal mischief, trespassing and resisting officers with violence.