Brandi Chin appeared with defense attorney Christine Start in the courtroom of Judge John B. Ellis for her arraignment in the case involving the viral video that surfaced in December.
The video shows a woman — believed to be Chin — allegedly in a fight with her boyfriend Ben Perez and hurling the small black pug by his collar at Perez so hard that he rolls several times on the ground.
Local Humane Animal Services officers were originally shown the video that was filmed Dec. 19 by a friend of Chin’s, said HAS Officer Francisco Piedra.
Perez said Chin had gotten out of jail for an unrelated offense and had disappeared with the dog, Piedra said.
Then on New Year’s Eve, Perez reportedly contacted Piedra saying he once again had Benny.
“He was wondering if I was still available to take him to the vet,” Piedra said.
Perez brought the dog in to HAS to have him examined for any injuries.
After the examination showed a clean bill of health, officers returned the dog to Perez. HAS officers were careful to observe Benny around Perez and did not see any signs that he had harmed the dog, said Piedra.
“He didn’t show any signs of fear,” he said, adding that Perez is partial owner of the dog. “We believed he would not be in any jeopardy.”
Officers also believed that Perez was no longer seeing Chin.
But two days later, they learned from a news report that Perez was in fact seeing Chin again, Piedra said.
That didn’t sit well with many people who have been following the story around the country.
Thousands of people signed a Change.org petition for Solano County District Attorney Krishna Abrams to seek a safe home for Benny.
The Fairfield Police Department conducted an investigation and turned over their information to the district attorney. The DA weighed the evidence and filed a charge of felony animal cruelty and requested an arrest warrant on Jan. 6.
Chin was arrested that same day in Vallejo by the Fairfield Police Department’s Special Operations Team and Solano County District Attorney Investigators.
Officers located Benny during Chin’s arrest and Humane Animal Services took him back into protective custody.
“Putting the dog in harm’s way is not something we would have done deliberately,” Piedra said. “One would assume that (Perez) would probably not want anything to do with her.”
Chin’s preliminary hearing is set for Feb. 5.
(The Reporter - Jan 27, 2016)
March 2017 - I noticed that the original YouTube video was removed by its submitter so I replaced it with video that was still posted on YouTube. If you can't see the video below, click HERE to go to YouTube to view it:
WATCH VIDEO HERE:
Earlier:
Hope the dog is ok
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