Detective Talat Awad said video he obtained from Congregation B'Nai Israel depicted a light-colored Jeep Cherokee pulling over to the side of the road closer to the train tracks on South Railroad Avenue at Hopkins Avenue, at 8:11 p.m. on Sept. 12, 2014.
The vehicle remained there for about a minute before driving off, Awad testified at Ivanchenko's criminal trial on animal-abuse charges in state Supreme Court, St. George.
The Jeep was similar to a Jeep Cherokee, which Awad said he observed four days later in the driveway of Ivanchenko's Bay Terrace home.
Good Samaritans told Awad they had discovered Ivanchenko's tiny puppy, a Maltese-Shih Tzu mix, in a black plastic bag lying in a weedy, gravelly area, between South Railroad Avenue and a fence outside the train tracks by Hopkins Avenue at about 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 12.
The Samaritans previously testified they had searched for the injured animal for nearly an hour after hearing its cries.
Awad was one of two prosecution witnesses to testify Friday morning at Ivanchenko's bench trial in state Supreme Court, St. George.
Prosecutors allege Ivanchenko, 35, beat the dog she had named "Snowflake," then cruelly put the badly injured animal in a black plastic bag and drove to South Railroad Avenue on the evening of Sept. 12, 2014. She then threw the bag out her car window near the train tracks.
Ivanchenko left the pup to die because she couldn't afford its medical care, maintain Assistant District Attorneys Jane Grinberg and Adam Silberlight, who are prosecuting the case.
The severely injured pup was found with two skull fractures, head trauma and bruising, and crusted and bloodied eyes, along with a broken leg, prosecution witnesses have testified.
While her injuries were initially considered life-threatening, she managed to mainly recover from them.
Despite lingering health issues, the little dog was later adopted and renamed "Pip" by her new owner, said the ASPCA.
The defense contends there's no evidence Ivanchenko, herself, abused the animal or caused the injuries doctors determined the pooch had suffered.
In his opening statement Tuesday, defense lawyer Matthew Myers said his client dropped the dog off by the side of the road on South Railroad and Hopkins avenues knowing someone would find it and care for it.
Awad said he began his investigation on Sept. 13 after Dr. Michael Arpino, a veterinarian at Animal Health Veterinary Group in Grant City, brought her records to the 122nd Precinct stationhouse to discuss a possible animal-cruelty case.
On Thursday, Sandra Alley, the vet's office manager, testified she alerted her boss after recognizing Snowflake from a photo she saw on SILive.com on Sept. 13 in an article recounting how the badly injured pup was found.
The detective also spoke to two of the Good Samaritans, Katherine and Jaclyn Donnelly, who advised where they and a friend, James Smith, found the dog in a black plastic bag.
Awad said he drove to the location on South Railroad and Hopkins and located the bag.
Afterward, the detective obtained videotape surveillance from Congregation B'Nai Israel on Sept. 15 and 16, which showed the vehicle he believed to be Ivanchenko's in the area on the evening of Sept. 12.
Also on Friday, Henry Enright, a representative of AT&T Mobility, testified a phone, which prosecutors contend the defendant used, pinged off a cell tower at South Railroad Avenue and Buffalo Street at 8:19 p.m. on Sept. 12.
The location is a block from where the dog was found, and the records indicate the user was moving around the area, he said.
The phone records also showed the phone was used in Florida between Aug. 29 and Sept. 3, 2014.
Prosecutors maintain Ivanchenko took a trip to Florida after obtaining the dog around Aug. 28, before returning to New York.
TOP QUOTE
"It looks just like the vehicle," Detective Talat Awad testified when asked to compare a photo he was shown of Ivanchenko's Jeep Cherokee to a Jeep Cherokee seen on videotape surveillance on the evening of Sept. 12, 2014, in the area of South Railroad and Hopkins avenues.
INTERESTING MOMENT
Ivanchenko, for reasons not immediately clear, leaned over and whispered animatedly into her lawyer's ear when Awad, who was on the witness stand, pointed at her when asked to do so for identification purposes.
WHAT'S NEXT
Awad will return to the witness stand Friday afternoon, when he's expected to discuss his interview of the defendant at the 122nd Precinct stationhouse. He's also subject to cross-examination.
(SILive.com - Sept 11, 2015)
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