Houston Mayor Annise Parker said the city is sorry that a police officer put a family’s near-blind dog on the streets to ultimately die after arresting its owner during a traffic stop.
One of the dog’s owners, Josie Garcia, said police stopped her husband’s car for failing to use a turn signal, and subsequently discovered prescription medications in the vehicle, a local ABC affiliate reported. The medicine belonged to Mr. Garcia’s friend, who was also in the car, but police arrested them both.
The dog, a Chihauhau named Guero, was simply put on the side of the street while a tow truck took removed the vehicle.
“My husband pleaded with the officer to let him call someone to come get Guero, and asked him to call [the animal shelter], but he said it wasn’t his problem, that the dog would be fine,” Mrs. Garcia told the affiliate.
All charges were later dropped against her husband. But the dog was gone. So the family put up signs around the streets of Houston, asking if anyone had seen the 14-year-old dog, which was nearly blind from cataracts.
Three days later, they received a phone call, letting them know the pet had been found dead on Eastex Freeway.
Mrs. Garcia filed a complaint with the Houston Police Department Internal Affairs unit, receiving a swift response from the mayor.
“Let me give you a public apology right now on behalf of the city of Houston,” Miss Parker told Mrs. Garcia, the affiliate reported. “I don’t know what airhead — there’s another word in my mind but I’m not going to say it — would throw — you wouldn’t put a kid on the side of the road. You shouldn’t put someone’s pet on the side of the road.”
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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