Woman arrested after video shows her deliberately running over puppy
Woman caught on video running over puppy
Santa Ana police say a woman used dog food to lure a puppy under her van, then ran over it, killing it.
SANTA ANA, Calif. - Santa Ana police arrested a woman after she was captured on surveillance video intentionally running over a puppy, killing it.
The incident happened Sept. 8 at about 9:15 a.m. in the 900 block of West Park Lane, according to the Santa Ana Police Department.
What we know:
Surveillance video provided to police appears to show a woman placing a puppy underneath an older blue or green Honda Odyssey with a roof rack. According to police, the woman then places dog food near the driver’s side door and waits for the puppy to move toward it.
The video shows the vehicle slowly moving over the puppy. Police said the vehicle then remained on top of the animal for about 15 seconds before the driver moved forward.
Arrest made in case
A day after police released the video, they were able to identify the woman and the car by using Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology.
Detectives then arrested 75-year-old Hahn Nguyen, who admitted to owning and abandoning her 9-week-old pit bull, "Blackey." Detectives also located the vehicle parked inside her garage.
She was charged with one felony count of animal cruelty, one felony count of animal abuse by a caretaker, and one felony enhancement of personal use of a weapon, a vehicle, to kill the animal.
Nguyen was released from custody after posting $20,000 bail. She is scheduled to appear in court on November 2.
Hahn Nguyen
"Worst case of animal abuse"
What they're saying:
The graphic surveillance footage was captured by a security camera belonging to Santa Ana resident Donato Orlando.
"It was horrible," Orlando said. "I don’t know how somebody would even do something like that to any animal."
Police said the video is difficult to watch, even for veteran officers.
Santa Ana Police Department spokesperson Officer Natalie Garcia described the incident as one of the worst cases of animal abuse she has seen.
"It’s completely horrendous," Garcia said. "It’s very graphic and very sad to see that this person would do something to an innocent little puppy."
Garcia said the video appears to show the driver looking back toward the puppy before eventually driving away.
"She left the wheel on the puppy for a good period of time," Orlando said.
Garcia also questioned what the woman might be capable of if she was willing to harm an animal.
"This is probably one of the worst cases that I’ve seen of animal abuse," Garcia said.
The Source: Information for this story came from the Santa Ana Police Department.