Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — A dispute over a dog in Happy Valley in the Tafuna area has landed two men in jail.

The two men, Afaeseoaiga Felise, 53, and Taylor Faalogo, 51, made their initial appearances in Court last week.

Felise was charged with 3rd- degree assault, PPD and 3rd- degree property damage, all misdemeanors.

Faalogo was charged with 3rd- degree assault, 3rd- degree property damage, PPD and endangering of a child, all misdemeanors.

The court set bail for each defendant at $500.

According to the government, it was on the evening of May 15 when the Tafuna Police Substation (TPS) received a call from a woman claiming that her husband was assaulted by a man from their neighborhood, after their vehicle ran over the neighbor’s dog.

Responding to the call, both men were taken to the TPS for further investigation. The two men were Afaeseoaiga Felise and Taylor Faalogo, who are the two defendants in this matter.

Both men were Mirandized and agreed to speak to cops about the incident.

Felise told police the incident occurred when his vehicle ran over a dog, which belonged to the Faalogo family on the afternoon of May 15, 2022 around 4:01p.m. He was speaking on the phone while backing up his vehicle in front of the Faalogo family house, and was not aware that he had run over the dog when he went to the store, however on his way back home, members of the Faalogo family were waiting for him on the road with rocks, sticks and weapons.

According to the government, eyewitnesses said it was Faalogo who threw the first punch that knocked Felise down. A fight between the two men then ensued.

At the TPS, Felise apologized to Faalogo for what happened and assured that this would not happen again. He added that he learned a great lesson from the incident.

Faalogo told police during his interview that he was very angry when Felise’s vehicle ran over his children’s dog. He confronted Felise and questioned him about what he did but Felise challenged him for a fist fight.

He admits that he threw the first punch that knocked Felise down, before he kicked and punched him. However, as he was trying to calm down his family, he was shocked when Felise reached out and punched him in the face. That’s when the two men fought each other for about two minutes before they were separated.

Both defendants sustained injuries to their faces and both refused to be transported to the LBJ Tropical Medical Hospital for further treatment.

Both defendants were booked and confined in prison.