DELTONA, Fla. (WSVN) — Witnesses at a Central Florida gas station sprang into action and confronted a man after they saw him strike a dog multiple times.
Cellphone video recorded by witnesses appeared to show the suspect pick something up from the ground and swing it at the animal.
“Get that dog away from him!” yelled one witness.
Raymon Prush watched it all go down at a gas station in Deltona after a man was seen attacking his own dog, Thursday afternoon.
“He’s beating the hell out of it for no reason. Poor dog.” said a 911 caller.
One of many bystanders who was recording the chaos yelled, “You’re recorded!”
“I see this guy walking a dog and it’s a dog. It’s beautiful dog, beautiful color,” recounted Prush, “And he yanked it because it tried to smell tire and hit in the face of the chain. I don’t understand why somebody could do that. It’s just it’s heartbreaking.”
He decided to step in and stop the man from hurting the dog any further. You can see Prush on cellphone video in a dark shirt approaching the suspect.
“He starts wailing the dog, wailing the dog, wailing the dog. The chain breaks, the dog breaks free, gets behind me,” said Prush.
That’s when Prush says other bystanders tried to shield the dog from its owner. The arrest report states multiple witnesses also saw the suspect, identified as 31-year-old Jose Rivera, punch the dog.
“It’s getting very ugly. There’s a whole bunch of guys getting ready to fight. Guy’s got a pit bull, and he’s being very abusive.” said the 911 caller.
Several people were seen stepping in to help the dog as the mayhem continued.
One of them grabbed the dog and put it in their car as they waited for deputies.
That action immediately sparked a fight between Rivera and a few people.
“I wasn’t going to let anybody get hurt, so I put myself in between,” recalled Prush. “He hit me in the face on this side, I guess, to try knock me down. That’s when I yoked him up, to get him to stop being violent and kind of pinned him against the pole in the gas tank over here.”
A few minutes went by before deputies showed up to calm the situation down.
“Can I stand up? I don’t want to sit down right now.” said Rivera.
“You have to sit down.” said deputy, “Put your hands behind your back.”
Rivera was arrested on the scene and later charged with animal cruelty and several counts of battery for the fight.
Deputies say a total of nine bystanders tried to get Rivera under control before they arrived. At least four of them, including Prush, would end up hurt.
A judge has set Rivera’s bond at $51,000.
Court records show Rivera has a history of violence, including several convictions for battery and domestic violence. Prush is still trying to wrap his head around how someone could hurt their own pet.
“We treat them as children. They live with us. They eat with us, they sleep with us,” said Prush. “They’re amazing things. And nobody deserves nor any animal deserves to get hit like that in the face. Especially with a metal chain. I just don’t understand how somebody could do that to something that’s so special.”
The dog is OK but it was found with cuts and open wounds; it was first turned over to animal control, but is now in the care of someone who does not live with Rivera.
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