OCEANSIDE — A man accused of killing a police dog when he jumped off the Coronado Bridge with the canine initially held the dog over the edge of the bridge, testified an Oceanside police officer April 17.

Officer Kedrick Sadler said he believed Cory Nathaniel Byron tried to first fling his canine counterpart, Stryker, from a 200-foot-high span of the Coronado Bridge before deciding to leap off the bridge in a failed suicide attempt with the dog attached last New Year’s Eve.

Byron is charged with one count each of evading police, harming a police dog, hit and run and driving under the influence. The charges stem from the 27-year-old’s approximately 35-minute police chase from Oceanside to San Diego, where Byron eventually jumped off the Coronado Bridge.

In binding Byron over on the aforementioned charges, Judge Joan Weber said she believed that the defendant intended to harm Stryker when he jumped of the bridge.

An April 29 arraignment date was set at which time a trial date may be set.

If convicted, Byron faces up to four years and four months in prison, Deputy District Attorney Paul Myers said outside the courtroom.

Byron had a blood alcohol level of .17 when his blood was drawn four hours after the incident. He suffered a collapsed lung and spent a week in the hospital.

A video played by the prosecution taken from a police helicopter showed the several-second altercation from the time Sadler released Stryker to when the dog and Byron landed in the bay. However, because of the angle and quality of the video, which showed only heat signatures of the event, it was not clear whether Byron hung the dog over the bridge before jumping.

After the hearing, defense attorney Anthony Solare said he didn’t think the officer’s account of Byron’s actions toward Stryker were accurate, and that the video actually supports his theory that once bitten by Stryker his client made one fluid motion when he leapt off the bridge.

“The fact of the matter is that this all happened very quickly, with little time for reflection,” the lawyer said.

Further, he said he sympathized with Sadler for his loss, but was disheartened by the public’s lack of empathy for Byron, whose underlying emotional issues drove him to his attempted suicide.

Solare said he couldn’t comment further about Byron’s mental state at the time or whether his client was currently involved in counseling.

Byron remains in custody in lieu of $1,015,000 bail.