The Pittsburg Police Department said Monday it is looking into a video circulating on social media showing a woman harming a dog.
Albert Lopes told NBC Bay Area on Tuesday that he can't understand why anyone would try to hurt his little dog GiGi. But a dispute with his neighbor last week ended with a woman caught on camera kicking the little dog hard enough to send her flying.
“GiGi is like an infant. She's a baby. She's tiny, tiny,” he said. “She hit the planter right here. She hit it hard. It's not like she got kicked and tumbled. She got kicked and smashed against the planter is what happened."
Lopes posted the video of the incident on social media and it has now gone viral.
“If it hits home, it hits home. This one, I didn't think it hit that hard and it did,” he said.
Lopes said the incident started when he confronted his 68-year-old neighbor after she ran over his plant.
Lopes said the next thing he knew, the woman's daughter and granddaughter came over and he claims began threatening him with a gun. That's when he picked up his 17-year-old dog Miko to go inside and call police.
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Lopes said that's when the woman instructed her daughter to kick GiGi.
“I want to put closure to this and justice for her. Miss GiGi deserves every bit of it because she was innocent in this whole matter,” he said.
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Pittsburg police said they have launched an investigation into the incident and are treating it with "utmost seriousness."
"We recognize the community's concern and appreciate your cooperation and patience as we strive to resolve this matter promptly," the department wrote in a post on social media.
But Susie Ashley, Lopes’ neighbor, said the video doesn't tell the whole story.
“He had upset me, disrespected me and cursed me out. They don't know that part,” she said.
Ashley, the grandmother who Lopes said ran over his plant, claimed the dog owner was the aggressor and insists her daughter didn't have a gun. She said she doesn't agree with her granddaughter kicking the dog but believes it was a reflex.
“My granddaughter got upset about him talking to her mom like that,” she said. “She kicked the dog out the way. The dog was coming toward my granddaughter and that’s what happened.”
Lopes said the video speaks for itself. He's started a GoFundMe to help pay for the vet bills and prays GiGi recovers.
“The sweetest thing. She loves to cuddle,” he said. “That's such an innocent little thing. It's like an infant baby. That's what I look at her as my infant baby.”
Anyone with information about the incident or the people involved is encouraged to call the police department's tip line at 925-252-4040.
