Pit Bull Thrown From Freeway
Witness Gives SAPD Driver, Vehicle Descriptions
POSTED: Friday, August 21, 2009
UPDATED: 8:38 am CDT August 21, 2009
SAN ANTONIO -- Diana Garza is still overcome when she thinks about what she saw around sunset Saturday as she stopped at a traffic light on Culebra Road.
Garza remembers seeing a driver get out of a light silver Toyota Corolla that was stopped on the entrance ramp to Interstate 10 West.
"He's struggling, pulling on something," Garza said. "And, we see the dog he's pulling. And we see the dog going over the bridge. And it looked like a dive."
But rather than just shake her head in disgust, Garza and her mother followed the Corolla to Interstate 10 East and then to Highway 90 West until she returned to the scene to talk with police.
"He kept waving at me to just leave him alone and keep going," said Garza, an admitted animal lover. "So I wave my cell phone at him and I told my mom, 'This animal, this poor dog needs to have a voice.'"
"I have five orphans I've adopted off the street," she said as she turned away to hide her tears.
Yet, Garza kept her composure that day. She got the car's license plate and got a good look at the driver. Garza said the man was in his late 20s or early 30s. He was tall, slender and had blond hair with a military cut. A female with wavy, long brown hair that was in a pony tail was with him, she said.
Garza added that she couldn't have been the only one who witnessed the incident, given that other vehicles were backed up on the entrance ramp at the time.
"I couldn't have been the only one that called. People need to come forward," she said.
A homeless veteran living near the large drainage ditch below the entrance ramp approached Garza as she walked toward the spot where a police officer found the young pit bull.
Gabriel Angel Figueroa pointed out the concrete culvert where he had dragged the decomposing animal. Figueroa said the area has become a dumping ground for dogs.
"I've found at least five in the last three months," Figueroa said. "I've seen the bullet holes."
"Why do they do it? I don't know," Garza said while putting her hand on his shoulder. "We'll find him. We'll catch him."
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Pit Bull Thrown From Freeway - San Antonio News Story - KSAT San Antonio