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Joshua Pirie, 38, of Morris, was arrested Friday, March 14, following a violent outburst at a home that left a mother fearing for her life, according to Connecticut State Police.
The woman said she heard screaming outside her home in Morris just before 3 p.m. Friday. When she looked out, she saw Pirie shirtless and covered in mud. He grabbed the woman's 11-year-old dog and began strangling it, she told police.
He then tried to force his way inside. A 911 operator told her to barricade herself and her newborn in a bathroom and wait for police to arrive.
"Shortly after locking myself in the bathroom with my child, I heard glass break, and I was truly in fear for my life," she said. "I thought I was going to die because Josh was acting so erratic and manic."
Pirie and the victim knew each other, and she told police he has a history of mental health issues.
Officers deployed a K-9 unit to subdue Pirie, but he refused to surrender, police said. He ignored orders, threw rocks at officers, and, when that failed, began eating gravel off the ground, State Police said.
When the victim emerged, she found that Pirie had smashed her truck's windows with a rock and caused other damage around the home, police said.
Police charged Pirie with risk of injury to a child, cruelty to animals, threatening, reckless endangerment, burglary, possession of burglary tools, criminal mischief, interfering with an officer, assault on public safety personnel, and disorderly conduct, authorities said.
He was held on a $250,000 bond.
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