And you thought Coffee the dog had it bad. Police yesterday arrested an East Harlem man and charged him with aggravated cruelty to animals after security footage of him throwing around and whipping his pit bull puppy in his building's elevator came to light. The puppy, which is doing fine, has been taken to an Animal Care & Control shelter in Manhattan.
In the graphic video (below) from the NYPD, 46-year-old East Harlem man Irving Sanchez can be seen swinging his brown-and-white year-old puppy Max around by its leash. Later he slams the dog against the walls of the elevator, smacks it with its leash and kicks it. The incident occurred around 9 p.m. Sunday night at the Wagner Houses on First Avenue.
For what it's worth, Sanchez's wife tells ABC that she is disabled and that Max is her service dog. Further, she says the charges against her husband, who has nine prior arrests for drug possession, are "completely inconsistent with the gentle and kind husband she knows."
And this is not the first time that video footage of animal abuse in an elevator has led to an arrest. Last year another Harlem man was busted after surveillance video surfaced of him repeatedly coaxing a chihuahua onto his leg before kicking.
