An Orange County woman faces federal criminal charges after allegedly luring a pit bull puppy underneath her minivan and running over it, an incident that was caught on video.
On Sept. 8, animal services officers found Blackey, a 9-month-old pit bull, dead in the street after responding to a report of an injured dog in Santa Ana. Santa Ana police spokesperson Natalie Garcia said a neighbor told police she believed a woman intentionally killed the puppy in a minivan, and after canvassing the area, police discovered a surveillance video that corroborated the report.
The video shows a woman getting out of a Honda Odyssey and placing the kibble on the ground near the driver’s side door. She put the puppy on the ground and it rushed up to eat the food, then got back in the pickup truck and drove forward, pinning the puppy under her left rear tire for about 15 seconds.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office wrote in a news release that an autopsy showed the puppy was alive within minutes of the incident and may have been in severe pain before dying.
Hanh Minh Nguyen, 75, of Anaheim, was charged Thursday with felony animal cruelty. If convicted, she faces up to seven years in federal prison.
An Orange County woman faces federal charges after authorities said she lured a pit bull puppy under her minivan and then ran over it, intentionally killing it, the Justice Department announced Friday. Hanh Minh Nguyen, 75, of Anaheim, was charged Thursday with animal cruelty, a felony that carries a maximum sentence of seven years in federal prison.
(Santa Ana Police Department)
“Luring a defenseless puppy with food and then pinning it under a car is an act of shocking cruelty,” said the first assistant U.S. attorney. Bill Essaly.
Nguyen was charged under a 2019 law that bans running over animals nationwide, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Orange County prosecutors also charged Nguyen with felony counts of cruelty to animals and cruelty to animals by a caretaker, with a sentencing enhancement for personal use of a weapon.
She was released on $20,000 bail and is scheduled to appear in court in Santa Ana on Nov. 2.
Times staff writer Clara Hart contributed to this report.