A puppy that was thrown out of a moving pickup truck in Los Angeles during a high-speed police chase “miraculously” survived, according to authorities.
In a statement released on Saturday, the Los Angeles police department announced that on 7 April, at about 12.10pm in a south-east part of the city, officers started a car chase in pursuit of a suspect who was wanted in connection to an attempted murder and carjacking which occurred on 26 March.
The suspect was driving a Chevy Avalanche, the local news outlet KTTV reported. The pursuit had crossed through multiple cities across Los Angeles county, including Inglewood and Westchester, when a puppy was placed in a brown Michael Kors designer bag and then “tossed from the suspect’s moving vehicle”, police said.
LAPD says puppy OK after being tossed from car during pursuit https://t.co/StbwMEb8Oi pic.twitter.com/9yqqV7fwEN
— KRON4 News (@kron4news) April 9, 2023
The puppy, an eight-week-old beige mixed breed with one blue eye and one brown eye, “miraculously … emerged unharmed and was rescued by responding … officers”, the police department said.
The puppy is now reportedly in the care of South Los Angeles Animal Services. The agency is holding the dog pending an investigation into the “abandonment” of the animal during the chase, and it is not available for adoption, at least not yet, the police added in a statement.
The pursuit finally ended at about 2pm when the driver and a passenger jumped out of the car in a residential street. The suspect tried to run into a house but surrendered to pursuing officers relatively quickly after that, police said.
Officers arrested three people in the case: 27-year-olds Gustavo Alvarez and Lynette Moreno as well as Michelle Zamudio, 25.
Alvarez was booked with attempted murder and carjacking charges and is being held without bail. Moreno was arrested for allegedly setting up a second getaway vehicle and was booked with being an accessory to a crime as well as evading. Her bail was set at $67,500.
Zamudio, allegedly the driver of the second getaway vehicle, was booked for evading, and her bail was set at $75,000.
