The Daily News, Page 1, Thursday, August 5, 1999
An email sent by Ruby Thomas was forwarded to SRAC and immediately investigated. When Police officials refused to discuss their policies, SRAC gave the story exclusively to the Daily News, who gave the story front page coverage.
Despite requests to meet with CACC board chair Yolanda Jiminez, who is also Deputy Police Commissioner in charge of Community Affairs, going back to April, SRAC never received a response to its multiple requests to discuss police policies regarding animal handling before the summer heat arrived. Both Jiminez' office and her boss, Police Commissioner Howard Safir, have the blood of Ruby Thomas' dead dogs on their hands for their callous and malfeasant attitudes toward animals and their advocates.
Dogs die in cops' trunk
Woman begs officers to spare her 'babies'
By K.C. BAKER and JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Screaming that her dogs -- her "babies" -- would suffocate, a Brooklyn woman begged cops not to put two Rottweilers in their trunk during last week's heat wave.
But the cops told her it was procedure and locked the lid on 2-year-old Endiya and 9-month-old Tank.
Forty-five minutes later, the cops pulled up in front of the E. 110th St. animal shelter and popped the trunk.
The dogs were dead.
"When they shut the trunk, I can't even begin to describe the pain I felt " a shaken Ruby Thomas re called yesterday. "Their little tails were wagging and they were look ing up at me as the cops slammed the trunk."
The incident has prompted the NYPD to review the placing of dogs in trunks -- apparently a widespread practice that animal activists say claims several canines each summer.
"It is a callous and cruel policy to put animals in a trunk with no air," said Gary Kaskel, an advocate.
Officers Michael Gallo and Alex Tacoronte saw the unleashed Rot weilers harass a smaller dog at Bedford Ave. and Putnam St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, at 9 p.m. July 28. Thomas' son Wakeen, 15, was with the dogs.
Gallo and Tacoronte summoned Sgt. George Groner and Emergency Service Unit cops, who are trained to handle dogs. They decided to bring Endiya and Tank to the Center for Animal Care and Control for evaluation.
But, according to the center, the cops didn't attempt to contact the agency to pick up the dogs. Instead, they decided to take them to the Manhattan shelter themselves.
Thomas arrived as they prepared to take the dogs away in the 86-degree heat.
"I said they would suffocate," Thomas recalled, near tears.
"They said, 'No, it has to be done like this." The dogs jumped in the trunk, and my girl [Endiya] leaned over to me. I said everything would be okay."
Thomas, a customer service representative for Bell Atlantic, added: "If I had put my dogs in the trunk, I would have been arrested and summonsed."
The temperature in the closed trunk was probably well over 100 degrees" -- fatal for dogs -- said Dr. Karen Aiken of Manhattan's Animal Medical Center.
The incident has prompted investigation and confusion within the NYPD with at least some cops apparentiy believing it is standard procedure to place dogs in trunks.
According to the police memo on animal care, ESU cops are supposed to "secure the animal and prepare it for transport by [patrol car]" to the animal shelter. It doesn't say where the dog should be placed.
A police source said cops are reluctant to put dogs in the back seat be cause they carry fleas and disease and can urinate or defecate in the car.
Deputy Inspector Anthony Maniaci, commander of the 79th Precinct, where the incident occurred, said it is not unusual to put a dangerous dog in the trunk. He said he had done so himself.
"If you have two vicious Rottweilers out there, you can't just leave them out there attacking people," Maniaci said.
Thomas said the dogs had "sweet dispositions."
A police spokesman said Groner, Gallo and Tacoronte, along with the ESU cops, are under investigation.
Thomas' son was issued a juvenile report and released.
Thomas went to the 79th Precinct stationhouse the night the dogs died. She was again told that putting the dog in the trunk was procedure.
"I left and they were laughing," she said. She saw Tacoronte outside.
"He had the nerve to say that if my son didn't take the dogs out, then this wouldn't have happened," she said. "Those dogs were priceless. They were my babies."
Tacoronte declined comment about the incident. "This is my job," he said. "I don't want to get in any trouble."
An email sent by Ruby Thomas was forwarded to SRAC and immediately investigated. When Police officials refused to discuss their policies, SRAC gave the story exclusively to the Daily News, who gave the story front page coverage.
Despite requests to meet with CACC board chair Yolanda Jiminez, who is also Deputy Police Commissioner in charge of Community Affairs, going back to April, SRAC never received a response to its multiple requests to discuss police policies regarding animal handling before the summer heat arrived. Both Jiminez' office and her boss, Police Commissioner Howard Safir, have the blood of Ruby Thomas' dead dogs on their hands for their callous and malfeasant attitudes toward animals and their advocates.
Dogs die in cops' trunk
Woman begs officers to spare her 'babies'
By K.C. BAKER and JOHN MARZULLI
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Screaming that her dogs -- her "babies" -- would suffocate, a Brooklyn woman begged cops not to put two Rottweilers in their trunk during last week's heat wave.
But the cops told her it was procedure and locked the lid on 2-year-old Endiya and 9-month-old Tank.
Forty-five minutes later, the cops pulled up in front of the E. 110th St. animal shelter and popped the trunk.
The dogs were dead.
"When they shut the trunk, I can't even begin to describe the pain I felt " a shaken Ruby Thomas re called yesterday. "Their little tails were wagging and they were look ing up at me as the cops slammed the trunk."
The incident has prompted the NYPD to review the placing of dogs in trunks -- apparently a widespread practice that animal activists say claims several canines each summer.
"It is a callous and cruel policy to put animals in a trunk with no air," said Gary Kaskel, an advocate.
Officers Michael Gallo and Alex Tacoronte saw the unleashed Rot weilers harass a smaller dog at Bedford Ave. and Putnam St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, at 9 p.m. July 28. Thomas' son Wakeen, 15, was with the dogs.
Gallo and Tacoronte summoned Sgt. George Groner and Emergency Service Unit cops, who are trained to handle dogs. They decided to bring Endiya and Tank to the Center for Animal Care and Control for evaluation.
But, according to the center, the cops didn't attempt to contact the agency to pick up the dogs. Instead, they decided to take them to the Manhattan shelter themselves.
Thomas arrived as they prepared to take the dogs away in the 86-degree heat.
"I said they would suffocate," Thomas recalled, near tears.
"They said, 'No, it has to be done like this." The dogs jumped in the trunk, and my girl [Endiya] leaned over to me. I said everything would be okay."
Thomas, a customer service representative for Bell Atlantic, added: "If I had put my dogs in the trunk, I would have been arrested and summonsed."
The temperature in the closed trunk was probably well over 100 degrees" -- fatal for dogs -- said Dr. Karen Aiken of Manhattan's Animal Medical Center.
The incident has prompted investigation and confusion within the NYPD with at least some cops apparentiy believing it is standard procedure to place dogs in trunks.
According to the police memo on animal care, ESU cops are supposed to "secure the animal and prepare it for transport by [patrol car]" to the animal shelter. It doesn't say where the dog should be placed.
A police source said cops are reluctant to put dogs in the back seat be cause they carry fleas and disease and can urinate or defecate in the car.
Deputy Inspector Anthony Maniaci, commander of the 79th Precinct, where the incident occurred, said it is not unusual to put a dangerous dog in the trunk. He said he had done so himself.
"If you have two vicious Rottweilers out there, you can't just leave them out there attacking people," Maniaci said.
Thomas said the dogs had "sweet dispositions."
A police spokesman said Groner, Gallo and Tacoronte, along with the ESU cops, are under investigation.
Thomas' son was issued a juvenile report and released.
Thomas went to the 79th Precinct stationhouse the night the dogs died. She was again told that putting the dog in the trunk was procedure.
"I left and they were laughing," she said. She saw Tacoronte outside.
"He had the nerve to say that if my son didn't take the dogs out, then this wouldn't have happened," she said. "Those dogs were priceless. They were my babies."
Tacoronte declined comment about the incident. "This is my job," he said. "I don't want to get in any trouble."
