Woman Charged With Throwing Dog From Car On Long Island
MASTIC, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- A woman has been arrested and charged with throwing a dog from her car and leaving the animal at a gas station in Mastic, Long Island, officials announced Monday.
Josephine Rivera was charged with misdemeanor abandonment in connection with the June 23 incident, the Suffolk County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Animals reported.
The incident was caught on video when it happened in Mastic. Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross told CBS 2's Scott Rapoport a witness saw a woman in her 30s throw a small, white-colored Toy Poodle-type dog from her car in front of an Exxon gas station on Montauk Highway.
"It's looking up at the window like 'get me back in the car. Get me back in the car,'" Gross said earlier this month.
The video shows a passenger in the front seat throw food out the window to distract the dog, authorities said. Then the driver takes off and the dog frantically chases after the car.
"The Good Samaritan blocked the vehicle and starts yelling at the woman, giving her a piece of his mind, 'what are you doing,'" he said. "She says 'I can't keep the dog. The dog is very attached to me. When I leave it cries all the time.'"
The SPCA said the woman promised the witness she would go back, get the dog and bring it to a shelter.
But, "The Good Samaritan goes to the shelter to make sure that the dog was brought in. Sure enough the dog is there, but how the dog got there was it was found by the State Park Police in Smith Point Park wandering around in the parking lot," Gross said.
According to the witness, there were also four young children between the ages of 3 and 5 in the back seat of her car at the time, none of which were buckled in, Gross said. An older child was in the front seat.
The dog was placed into foster care and was expected to be adopted.
A $2,000 reward offered in the case resulted in tips leading to the arrest, the SPCA said.
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