REVERE, MASS. (WHDH) - Authorities announced Monday that they plan to summon a Saugus woman after her dog died at Revere Beach over the weekend.
The 57-year-old woman, whose name has not been released, will be summonsed to court at a later date for various animal cruelty charges, according to Massachusetts State Police spokesman David Procopio.
Troopers responding to a report of an injured dog at the beach near the Shirley Avenue bathhouse on Sunday found lifeguards and firefighters attempting to resuscitate a small Chihuahua mix who was in “severe medical distress,” Procopio said in a news release.
The woman is said to have told troopers that she had taken her dog into the water when he suddenly became stricken and apparently drowned.
Revere City Councilor George Rotondo, who happens to be a nurse, jumped in to help.
“So I’m thinking the dog might have drowned or whatever the issue was,” he said. “When I went to open the airway, just a ton of blood came out and this was a small dog.”
After the woman was allowed to leave the beach with her dog’s body, several beachgoers told troopers that they had seen the woman abuse the animal before it died, according to Procopio.
“People started coming up to me and telling me that this lady was kicking the dog and this lady was beating the dog before the dog went into the water,” Rotondo said. “I was just like, ‘Are you kidding me?”
The woman was not arrested because she left the scene before troopers learned witnesses had seen her allegedly abuse the dog.
The dog’s body has since been recovered by investigators. It’s not clear when the woman will be called to court.
Rotondo said he was left wondering why no one stepped in to help the dog.
“For me, the issue is that why didn’t anyone stop her if she was kicking the dog? We live in a society today where people are too much, afraid to stand up for what’s right,” he said.
An investigation remains ongoing.
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