A woman is facing animal cruelty charges after New York City police said she attempted to sell puppies confined in a hot bag on a street corner.
NYPD officers from the 101 Precinct field training unit were on post at Beach Channel Drive and Horton Avenue in Queens around 7 p.m. when they saw a woman attempting to purchase a puppy from another woman.
The prospective buyer asked if there were other puppies for sale, and the seller retrieved a sack, stating there were more dogs inside, according to officers at the scene.
Officers intervened and took possession of the sack. Bodycam video shows an officer using a knife to cut the fasteners and open the sack, showing five pit-bull puppies inside. The pups are visibly sweating and shaking in the video.
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A woman who is not identified can be heard pleading for help, shouting, "Please take them out!"
"They’re dripping sweat. Let’s get these dogs out of here. It’s so hot," an officer says. "These dogs could’ve been dead in five minutes."
Other officers on the scene each grabbed a pup and gave them some water. The dogs were removed to the ASPCA in Manhattan to be evaluated.
Police identified the woman who tried to sell the dogs as 44-year-old Shirley Medina. She was arrested on six counts of torture or injury to an animal, six counts of neglect of an impounded animal and a charge of criminal possession of a weapon.
