Montville ― The recent death of Montville police patrol dog has state prosecutors calling for stiffer penalties for the man charged with assaulting the dog.

Montville Police K9 Barrett, the department’s first and only patrol dog, was euthanized on June 1 following a touching ceremony at All Friends Animal Hospital in Norwich. A host of Montville officers joined with other law enforcement officials to line up at the entrance and salute Barrett’s final moments of life. Barrett’s body was taken away in a flag-draped casket.

Police contend the brain bleeds and seizures Barrett was suffering from in the days leading up to his death stemmed from an assault in December 2021 by Presley Almanzar-DeJesus, 27, of Norwalk.

On the morning of Dec. 11, 2021, Barrett and his partner Officer Daniel Witts were investigating a car crash at the intersection of routes 12 and 2A in Preston.

Police said Almanzar-DeJesus, while fleeing the scene, pointed a gun at Witts. Barrett, a German shepherd, chased Almanzar-DeJesus into the woods and had latched onto his leg when Almanzar-DeJesus punched Barrett’s head and gouged at his eyes, police said. Almanzar-DeJesus was taken into custody after being stunned with a Taser.

Police said Almanzar-DeJesus was found to be in possession of a .38 Special handgun, a loaded high-capacity magazine and a Glock 9mm handgun. The guns were stolen, police said.

Almanzar-DeJesus faced multiple criminal charges that included assault on a police officer, cruelty to animals, two counts of criminal possession of a firearm, possession of a high-capacity magazine, two counts of carrying a pistol without a permit and attempted first-degree assault.

State prosecutors and defense attorney Michael Riley eventually reached a plea agreement. In April, Almanzar-DeJesus pleaded guilty to two counts of possession of a pistol without a permit and one count of animal cruelty with the understanding he would serve three years in prison.

At Almanzar-DeJesus’ scheduled sentencing in New London Superior Court on Wednesday, Supervisory Assistant State’s Attorney Stephen Carney said the circumstances of the case had changed with Barrett’s death. Carney said he had made an undisclosed “adjustment” to the proposed offer which Almanzar-DeJesus had rejected.

A dozen Montville police officers were in court on Wednesday, a show of support for a cherished fallen member of the department, said Montville Police Chief Wilfred Blanchette III, who was also in court.

Carney said there is information Barrett’s death was “causational to the injuries sustained at the hands of the defendant.“

Witts, Carney said, had always thought the proposed sentence was too low. Carney said state statute allows the penalty for animal cruelty to be increased from a maximum of five years to 10 years in cases in which the animal dies. That was a factor in the new offer, he said.

Riley, Almanzar-DeJesus’ attorney, asked for further evidence of the link between the 2021 incident and Barrett’s death, such as veterinary records. In the meantime, Judge Hilary Strackbein agreed to release Almanzar-DeJesus, who had already started his prison sentence based on the plea agreement and was being held on a $200,000 bond. He is to be monitored electronically and scheduled to be back in court on Aug. 1.

Barrett and Witts, a Marine Corps veteran, were graduates of the Connecticut State Police Patrol Dog School in 2018. The team is credited with 103 “successful deployments” for locating narcotics, firearms, wanted suspects and missing individuals, police said.

In 2020, police said Barrett was exposed to fentanyl and among the first working police dogs in the country to be saved by the opioid-reversal drug Narcan.

Barrett was a valued member of the department and a cherished member of Witts’ family, Blanchette said. A photo montage in Barrett’s honor can be found at the Montville Police Department’s Facebook page.

g.smith@theday.com