When you invite a repair person into your home to fix an issue, you expect that they will treat your belongings and your family with the utmost care and respect. And while some people may get nervous about having someone they don’t know inside their home while they’re not there, most of us assume that they will be on their best behavior since they are there in a professional capacity.
But one Florida couple says that’s not what happened when their landlord hired an HVAC technician to come out and work on their air conditioner on Aug. 24, 2026. Now, they are accusing Richardson Noel of violently attacking their 5-pound Chihuahua Boomer, kicking the dog so hard that he was unconscious for several minutes, according to Fox 35.
And that’s not all; Boomer’s owner, Ryan Menzies, was able to produce proof of what happened thanks to a video recorder on the treat dish that Boomer and Menzies’ other dogs use, which is how he learned of the attack in the first place, according to WKMG News 6. Fortunately, Boomer didn’t suffer any broken bones in the attack, but his vet does believe there may be some internal injuries.
Please note: This clip includes animal abuse. Some people may find the content of this video very hard to watch.
Boomer Was Home Alone With the HVAC Tech When the Video Was Taken
In the clip shared with WKMG News 6, 12-year-old Boomer can be seen barking at the technician who was just off-screen. Then, the man appears to walk towards Boomer and deliver a hard kick directly to the pup’s side, sending the dog flying.
Later, Noel appears in frame again and nudges Boomer with his foot several times before presumably leaving Menzies’ home. According to the outlet, Menzies’ girlfriend received a motion alert from the camera, and she tuned in to see what was going on. By the time she opened the app and logged into the live feed, Boomer was having a seizure. When she went back a little further to see what had happened before the seizure, she saw the video footage of Noel kicking the dog.
Menzies said his girlfriend called him in tears to tell him what happened and to ask him to head home while she got permission from her own boss so she could leave, too.
Boomer Was Later Evaluated by His Vet
While Menzies said the seizure Boomer had lasted five minutes, an evaluation from his vet found no broken bones, which is great news for the pup. However, Menzies told the outlet that there could still be some internal issues.
“They said nothing is broken. He’s not favoring anything,” Menzies told Fox 35. “We think that he has maybe some internal bruising that you obviously wouldn’t be able to see.” While all of this is obviously disturbing, Menzies admitted that he was thankful that the camera was rolling on the treat dispenser, because otherwise they would’ve had no idea about the incident. Moving forward, he says the dogs will always be locked up when strangers are in the home.
The HVAC Tech is Now in a Lot of Trouble
WESH reports that Richardson turned himself in to police on Aug. 27, 2026, when he was taken into custody and charged with aggravated animal cruelty.
As for exactly how much trouble Noel will be in if he’s found guilty, that’s still not determined. The Online Sunshine website says that those charges can come with some steep fines and jail time, depending on a few different factors, including whether this is a first offense.
It looks like that would amount to a max of $10,000 in fines and up to five years in prison, depending on whether he has prior convictions.