A 75-year-old woman was arrested after surveillance footage reportedly showed her enticing her puppy with food before running over it with her minivan last month.
Hahn Nguyen was apprehended by the Santa Ana Police Department on Thursday morning and charged with animal cruelty and abandonment.
Police located her after using Automated License Plate Reader technology, which directed investigators to her residence in Anaheim.
Authorities revealed that she had acknowledged owning and subsequently abandoning her nine-month-old pit bull, “Blackey.”
“The use of ALPR technology was crucial in helping detectives identify the vehicle, track down the suspect, and hold her accountable for what happened to Blackey,” a police statement explained.
This arrest came after weeks of investigations into the incident, which reportedly took place around 9 a.m. on September 8, near 926 W. Park Lane.
A concerned local resident had first alerted the authorities after discovering the dead pit bull in the street, suspecting that the animal had been deliberately harmed.
After thorough canvassing of the area, detectives retrieved home surveillance footage that depicted a woman arriving in an older Honda Odyssey, unloading Blackey, and placing food under the driver’s side of the minivan.
As the puppy was eating, Nguyen allegedly moved the vehicle, causing the rear driver’s-side tire to roll over the dog. It was reported that she kept the minivan parked on top of the puppy for about 15 seconds before driving off.
