Disturbing video shows man dragging dog behind motorized wheelchair
MISSION, Texas -- Police in southern Texas have arrested a man after a neighbor filmed a video of him allegedly dragging his dog by a leash behind his motorized wheelchair.
The incident happened Wednesday evening in a neighborhood in Mission, Texas, near the U.S. border with Mexico. A neighbor, Melissa Torrez, told CBS affiliate KGBT she saw the man dragging the struggling German shepherd and confronted him.
“I turn around. I see him dragging his dog from the middle of street. ... I’m out of my car yelling at him, asking him, ‘What are you doing? What’s wrong with you?’ And he just keeps going, telling me to mind my own business, it’s his dog he can do whatever he wants,” Torrez told KGBT.
Torrez begin taping the scene, and a video posted on social media quickly drew outrage.
“All I see when I close my eyes is her little face, trying to gasp for air, and it’s just so helpless,” said Veronica Torrez, Melissa Torrez’s mother.
Mission police said they received hundreds of calls from concerned residents which prompted them to investigate. The dog’s owner, 59-year-old Mario Cardona, is now facing animal cruelty charges, reports KGBT.
A judge set his bond at $10,000.
G2, the female German shepherd, was removed from his home and remains in the custody of animal control. The station reports she is healthy and doing well.