FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. _ A woman was hurt and a dog died Thursday night when a man who was fighting with his ex-wife threw the Chihuahua in a backyard swimming pool where it drowned, Pembroke Pines, Fla., police said.
"You can't swim but you're going to learn tonight," police quoted Juan Manuel Gonzalez as saying just before tossing the disabled dog into the pool. The arrest report filed in the case does not describe the dog's disability.
Police were called to the home on the 500 block of 64th Way about 11 p.m. Thursday where the ex-wife of Gonzalez, who is four months pregnant, told officers that during an argument he grabbed her by the face _ which cut her lip.
The Sun Sentinel is not naming the woman because she is an alleged victim of domestic violence.
"The victim advised that during the physical altercation, the defendant was screaming and yelling and destroying personal property within the house," the arrest report said.
The woman and her adult son told officers that Gonzalez, 40, intentionally tossed the dog into the pool.
"The victim also stated that she could hear the dog apparently suffering and crying for a short period of time. Ultimately, the family dog drowned," according to the report.
Police said Gonzalez was the "primary" aggressor in the dispute.
He's facing charges of domestic violence and animal cruelty.
According to police, Gonzalez denied physically hurting his ex-wife but admitted throwing their dog into the pool despite its disability.
