A man who beat his dog in public was arrested after witnesses spotted him thrashing his pet with a metal chain outside a Florida gas station.
The man is currently behind bars following the intervention of the authorities on site.
Julio Riviera, 31, faces a handful of charges that, in addition to animal cruelty, include child abuse, assault and resisting authorities.
A witness named Raymond Prush told NBC’s Wesh2 that he saw the violent incident occur. The puppy simply turned his head “to smell a tire” which would have prompted the owner of the animal to shoot the dog and hit him “in the face with the chain”.
When he saw what was happening at the side of the road, Mr Prush reportedly parked his car at a nearby gas station and confronted Riviera about attacking the animal with the metal chain.
The situation escalated; the two men shouted at each other.
Credit Sheriff Mike Chitwood / Facebook
“That’s when he started whipping the dog repeatedly,” Prush told NBC.
Mr. Riviera allegedly whipped the puppy “until the chain broke,” according to testimony. “Once that happened, the dog got behind me,” he added.
“I don’t know how many times she was beaten. It was as if she wasn’t defending herself against it,” he said. The dog was injured, but will recover.
Angry temperament
According to local sheriff Mike Chitwood, the defendant allegedly punched Prush in the face and also physically harassed several other witnesses gathered around the gas station.
Even a 13-year-old teenager then intervened, provoking Riviera’s rage.
“He tried to hit the kid. And then another couple managed to get the dog away from him and into their vehicle. He also attacked this couple,” the sheriff told NBC’s Wesh2.
The accused, Julio Riviera
Credit Sheriff Mike Chitwood / Facebook
A witness documented in the police report testified that this man, Riviera, “should never own or be around an animal.”
Once the confrontation was over, the hound “ran scared”, according to Raymond Prush.
Julio Riviera has already had some run-ins with the law. He was being held at Florida’s Volusia County Jail near Orlando on $51,000 bail.
