Maria Rivero and Mario Cruz

Dragged a dog behind a car

Gwinnett, GA

Feb. 11, 2001

Maria Rivero and her neighbor Mario Cruz were arrested on misdemeanor animal cruelty charges after neighbors saw Rocky, a 1-year-old yellow mixed breed retriever on a leash following behind Rivero's SUV.

Rivero is a former Gwinnett County police officer who had applied for the animal control job in 1996 but was turned down for it. Rivero resigned from the Police Department in 1998. She is now a reserve officer in the Auburn Police Department.

The dog wore the pads off its paws and left a trail of blood while attached to a taut leash behind the moving Toyota 4-runner. Witnesses also stated Rocky was trying his best to keep up, stumbling and scraping his paws along the way. All 4 paws were worn raw, and his toenails were broken down to the quick and one leg was scraped.

Authorities say the SUV reached speeds of 30 miles-per-hour. Gwinnett police said the dog would have had more injuries if Melodi Zimmer (a neighbor) hadn't jumped in her car and chased Cruz and Rivero to the nearest intersection.

Zimmer stated "all of a sudden I notices there was a dog on a leash with a man sitting on the tailgate dragging him down the street. As Zimmer was catching up with the SUV she called the police.

Rivero and Cruz were arrested and face fines up to $5000 and up to a year in jail.

Rocky is recovering at a Suwannee animal hospital and will probably be put up for adoption.

Rivero stated she was just trying to get the dog back home.

Rivero stated the pets belonging to her and a next door neighbor, Rocky and another dog had run off. She and Cruz went to pick them up in a car. When they found the animals, they tried to keep the dogs separated. So they put Rocky on a leash behind the car.

Rivero further stated that everything was fine until the dogs came in contact with each other. At that point, she wanted to get the dogs home and so she accelerated and pickup up a little bit of speed. Rivero says she stopped after a few seconds and that's when Rocky collapsed. He was bleeding from his nails.

Rivero calls the arrest devastating and a big mistake.

Reference:

The Atlanta Journal - Constitution

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