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Man caught on camera accused of abusing puppy
FOX 13's Kylie Jones reports from Bradenton.
BRADENTON, Fla. - A man in Bradenton was arrested after he was caught on surveillance video hitting a puppy at a downtown business.
Christian Cuello, 30, was arrested earlier this week.
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What we know:
The co-founders and owners of Kava Social Club said one customer caught their attention when he came in on Monday.
"He hadn't been in here before, really," Co-Founder Ryan Bodie said. "Brought in a beautiful puppy, and we were kind of just keeping an eye on him. We had a couple of customers come up and let us know that he was being really harsh to the dog."
Bodie said they thought the man might be a new dog owner and needed help training the nine-week-old puppy.
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"We realized right away he probably hasn't had a dog ever before this, and he was being pretty aggressive to try and like, when he didn't want to do something," Bodie said. "So, we worked with him a little bit, and we told him, 'That's not how you treat a dog. It's a puppy, give him a teething toy.'"
Bodie said the man came back the next day, and they got another complaint from another customer. That's when they decided to look back through their security footage.
"Grabbing the dog by the neck and holding it down by its face, we didn't really understand what the puppy could possibly have done to deserve that," Co-Founder Sara Lewis said. "When we noticed he was reacting, the fellow was reacting to the puppy nibbling, just doing the normal puppy thing. You know, they're teething and they kind of gnaw on your fingers. And we thought, 'Okay, I don't believe this guy is experienced with a dog and maybe doesn't understand this is not aggressive behavior, it's just puppy behavior.'"
The man, who was identified by Bradenton police as Cuello, could be seen on the video grabbing the puppy by its neck, smacking it in the face, and pushing the puppy around on the couch.
What they're saying:
"It was disgusting," Bodie said. "The strength and the aggression he had towards the puppy was not only unfounded, I had never seen anything like that."
After watching the security footage, Bodie and Lewis called the Bradenton Police Department.
"We know that that was not his dog. In fact, our officer who took the report here at Kava has seen that dog before, knew the dog's owner," BPD spokeswoman Meredith Censullo said.
Police arrested Cuello and tracked down the dog's owner.
"She had, in fact, given the dog, or to be watched, is the way that she put it, by the offender," Censullo said. "She seemed unaware of the abuse."
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Police said the puppy was taken in for a check-up, and they confirmed the puppy was registered and up to date on vaccinations.
"We fully believe that the dog's owner loves this dog," Censullo said. "But, we also have concerns. We want to make sure that the animal is safe. Legally, right now, the dog owner has not done anything wrong."
Bodie and Lewis are glad they spoke up before anything worse could've happened.
"If it makes you uncomfortable, maybe speak up," Lewis said.
What's next:
Police said Cuello is charged with animal cruelty. They said he was on probation for unrelated charges.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered by FOX 13's Kylie Jones.