She's safe, and her abuser has been punished because one person stood up for her.
Melissa Janelle Torrez,
a Mission Texas resident, was going about her business as usual. Torrez was
getting ready to leave his house on a Friday afternoon. Torrez, however, was
faced with a rather unpleasant scene as she drove out of the area.
Taking the Initiative
It's difficult to
accept, yet most people freeze when they witness something heinous in public.
This is sometimes referred to as the “bystander effect,” in which the bystander
feels that someone else will intervene. Of course, when all spectators trust
that someone else will act, that leaves a lot of... nothing.
Mario Cardona, her
59-year-old neighbor, was riding his motorized scooter down the street. G2, Cardona's
10-month-old German Sheperd, pursued the scooter.
Torrez, on the other
hand, was unique. With her fury boiling, she grabbed out her phone and began
filming the heinous occurrence.
She said, "I was
pretty unhappy." “Many people told me I should have cut the dog's leash,
removed the dog, pushed [Cardona] off his wheelchair... ... I wanted to
accomplish all of those things, but I had to think with my head rather than my
heart.”
G2 had clearly been
through a horrible situation, but what Torrez performed was important for the
pup's future. G2 may still be with Cardona if she had taken prompt action
instead of videotaping. Furthermore, Torrez's voice is filled with passion.
“Don't be concerned,”
Torrez says in the video. “Don't worry, I'm going to call the cops on you.”
Cruelty has no bounds.
Cardona is a brave and
ill guy. Rather than being discouraged throughout the filming, he implored
Torrez, "Call them [police], it's my dog!"
Thankfully, it wasn't
the end of the story. Torrez not only turned over the horrifying video to the
Mission Police Department, but she also posted it on Facebook. In the end, even
the police department backed Torrez's rapid choice to bring out her phone and
capture the incident.
“You know, something
like this is amazing because somebody really gave us with video evidence,”
Mission Police Department Lt. Jody Tittle told WANE-TV. “Sometimes, animal
cruelty is difficult to establish, as horrible as it may sound.”
Cardona was arrested and charged with animal cruelty within 15 hours.
And, as it turns out,
this was not his first infraction.
Cardona has a
significant criminal record, with offenses ranging from assault and DUI to
criminal mischief and cocaine possession. Despite having justice on their side,
officials ran against a brick wall at court.
G2 appears to have
"belonged" to Rosa Maria Cardona, the defendant's wife. During the
legal processes, Horacio Pena Jr., Municipal Court Judge, determined that G2
would not be returned to her prior "home."
Despite the judge's
quick decision, Maria Cardona maintained that her husband was unhappy and
suffering from PTSD. She was certain that he was not in the correct frame of
mind, and that G2 should be returned to her because she was
"technically" her dog.
That's right.
The judge made the
correct decision in sticking to his earlier ruling. Cardona was released from
jail owing to his medical concerns, but he was required to return to court and
pay a $10,000 bond.
G2's horrific upbringing
has come to an end.
G2 was finally able to
start moving ahead when Father Roy Snipes of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
welcomed her into his family, despite the fact that her journey will still
require a lot of healing. Father Snipes renamed this pup "Ceniza,"
which means "Ash" in Spanish, and he has indeed risen from the ashes
like the majestic Phoenix. It's safe to say she's found her one and only true
permanent home.
A Surprising Turn of
Events
However, the story does
not finish there. In an unexpected turn of events, it was revealed that Father
Snipes was also Cardona's priest. In an interview, he stated that Cardona was
"unaware" that G2 had fallen down and that he was being sarcastic in
the video.
While church members may
have forgiven Cardona, the rest of the community was understandably furious.
However, just as anger can be transformed into forgiveness, it can also be
transformed into something greater.
Mission authorities
formed Pawsible after being moved by Torrez's effort to save G2 from cruelty.
The organization is dedicated to rescuing abused dogs and teaching children how
to properly care for their canine companions.