A 42-year-old Hialeah woman was arrested after police said surveillance video captured her repeatedly striking and forcefully handling a small foster dog she had been caring for at Metro Parc Apartments. Miriam Yilian Delarosa now faces three felony animal cruelty charges following an investigation that detectives say involved three separate incidents caught on camera at the same building.
The case began after a tenant reported finding feces on a wall near an elevator at the complex, located at 952 E. 26th St., according to WSVN. A front desk employee reviewed surveillance footage to figure out what happened and identified Delarosa in the video, the station reported. Investigators traced the footage back to three incidents involving the same dog.
Video from Sept. 16 first showed Delarosa outside the building with three dogs, per the same report. At some point, one of the dogs slipped out of its collar and ran off, and police said Delarosa caught the animal and forcefully handled it, at one point holding it upside down by its legs.
Elevator Footage Shows Second Alleged Incident Same Night
Surveillance video also showed Delarosa entering the building’s lobby while holding the dog by its neck and collar area, the station reported. Investigators said that during this encounter, she struck the dog in the face approximately eight times. A separate incident was captured later that same night inside an elevator, after the dog began to urinate and defecate — and police said Delarosa held the dog by one of its front legs and struck it in the face approximately 10 times, though the station’s report does not reconcile the differing strike counts given by investigators and police…