Reddit to the rescue? Charlotte man charged with animal cruelty after users help identify him
Police and social media users scoured a grainy 46-second video of a man beating his dog in a parking lot for any clues — a bumper sticker, the make and model of his car, the location — that might have led to his identity.
But Connor De Leon Howard, 20, allegedly led police right to his door when he attempted to defend himself in a comment section on social media after video of the March 13 incident went viral.
Howard was arrested Tuesday and charged with felony cruelty to animals after security footage allegedly showed him pulling over his gray car in a parking lot in Plaza Midwood and beating his dog.
The footage allegedly showed Howard getting out of his car, opening a back door and bending over inside to swat at something. Soon after, he pulled a dog out from the backseat onto the ground and started kicking it before throwing it back into the car.
Someone off camera yelled at Howard to stop.
“I don’t give a f--- about none of that,” Howard says, arguing back and forth with the other person.
The footage quickly circulated online, making it to Reddit pages for Charlotte and North Carolina, where users expressed outrage, encouraged witnesses to make reports to the police, and tried to find ways to identify the man in the video and the location — with one guessing the parking lot behind Midwood Smokehouse in Plaza Midwood.
A Charlotte-Mecklenburg police affidavit confirmed this location, listing the incident address as 1114 Clement Ave.
The affidavit said a CMPD Animal Care and Control officer was also contacted by an animal rescue owner who said she used social media to identify Howard.
The animal rescue owner said she saw the footage on social media and posted it on her own Instagram page, hoping someone might come forward with Howard’s name. While looking through comments, she saw one posted by a profile she didn’t recognize named “driftininndiesel.”
The post read, “My life fixin to be judge by 30 second video. My dog live great life. Am I saying what did was right no. but do I deserve jail time and my kids losing their dad no. Im 20. My dog, BLUE EYE (Bull dog) a lives a great life,” the user said. “I don’t any one of yall people form a can of paint but yall wasn’t there to witness. How much more of that video wasn’t posted yall don’t know and probably never will. Ill face what Ill face and lifes goes on. But I don’t limit my anger to a dog nor woman. But hey all this is, is comment out thousands. So we’ll see.”
She searched the username on Facebook and found Howard’s profile.
Police were able to track down Howard’s address in east Charlotte and went to speak with him, but he wasn’t home. However, police looked through a window after hearing a dog bark and saw it locked in a cage. Officers couldn’t see whether there were injuries on the dog at the time.
Court records from 2024 showed that Howard has been charged in two separate cases with assaulting a woman. Documents showed the victim in each case appeared to be the mother of Howard’s child.
An arrest sheet from April 2024 alleged Howard became violent with a woman after he learned she had gone to the Magistrate’s Office to file a domestic violence protection order and warrant against him, and was returning home to get her belongings. He allegedly began destroying things in their home, pulled out a hunting knife, and “began to storm around the residence.” He locked her inside the home.
At one point, the arrest sheet said, Howard allegedly dropped the knife and put the woman in a headlock and began striking her with his right hand.
Another arrest sheet, from September 2024, alleged Howard locked a stroller and began taking the woman’s belongings from her, including her phone, iPad, keys and wallet, when she was trying to leave for a medical appointment.
When the woman tried to get her belongings back, Howard allegedly “flung” her to the ground and pulled her bag away from her. She then called the police. Howard tried to take her phone while she was speaking with the 911 dispatcher, grabbing her by the arm.
He tried to talk to to the dispatcher, who told Howard to return the phone, which he did. When officers arrived to arrest Howard, they saw scratches on the woman’s arm.
The April case is still pending while the September case was disposed, court records show.
Howard was released Thursday after posting a $5,000 secured bond in the cruelty to animals case.
This story was originally published March 19, 2025 at 4:38 PM.
