A man who beat his dog in public was arrested after witnesses saw him beating his pet with a metal chain outside a gas station in Florida.
Following the intervention of local authorities, the man is currently behind bars.
Julio Riviera, 31, faces a handful of charges that include animal cruelty, child abuse, assault and resisting authorities.
A witness named Raymond Prush told NBC's Wesh2 that he witnessed the violent incident. The puppy merely turned its head “to smell a tire,” which would have prompted the animal’s owner to shoot the dog and hit it “in the face with the chain.”
When he saw what was happening on the side of the road, Mr. Prush reportedly parked his car at a nearby gas station and confronted Riviera about attacking the animal with the metal chain.
The situation escalated; The two men shouted at each other.
![[EN IMAGES] A dog is brutally whipped in front of an audience in broad daylight and his owner is arrested](https://www.spamchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/EN-IMAGES-A-dog-is-brutally-whipped-in-front-of.jpg "[EN IMAGES] A dog is brutally whipped in front of an audience in broad daylight and his owner is arrested 3")
Credit Sheriff Mike Chitwood / Facebook
“He then started whipping the dog repeatedly,” Prush told NBC.
According to testimony, Mr. Riviera whipped the puppy “until the chain broke.” “When that happened, the dog got behind me,” he added.
“I don’t know how many times she was beaten. It was like she wasn’t fighting back,” he said. The dog was injured but will recover.
Angry temper
According to local sheriff Mike Chitwood, the defendant allegedly punched Prush in the face and physically harassed several other witnesses who were gathered around the gas station.
Even a 13-year-old teenager then intervened, provoking Riviera's anger.
“He tried to hit the boy. And then another couple managed to get the dog away from him and into their vehicle. He also attacked this couple,” the sheriff told NBC’s Wesh2.
![[EN IMAGES] A dog is brutally whipped in front of an audience in broad daylight and his owner is arrested](https://www.spamchronicles.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/1707173538_410_EN-IMAGES-A-dog-is-brutally-whipped-in-front-of.jpg "[EN IMAGES] A dog is brutally whipped in front of an audience in broad daylight and his owner is arrested 4")
The defendant, Julio Riviera Credit Sheriff Mike Chitwood/Facebook
A witness documented in the police report stated that this man, Riviera, “should never own or be near an animal.”
When the confrontation was over, the dog “ran in fear,” Raymond Prush said.
Julio Riviera has had several run-ins with the law. He was being held on $51,000 bail at the Volusia County Jail in Florida, near Orlando.