Anaheim Woman Arrested After Running Over Puppy With Minivan

A seventy-five-year-old woman from Anaheim was arrested after she ran over a nine-month-old Pitbull puppy with her minivan last month in Orange County. Outdoor surveillance video provided by police shows Hahn Nguyen sitting inside her Honda Odyssey parked at 926 W. Park Lane in Santa Ana on September 8. The footage captures her opening the driver's side door to let the young dog out, then sprinkling kibble near the front left tire.

Nguyen slowly drove forward as the puppy approached the food until the rear driver's side wheel crushed the animal. Authorities state the vehicle stayed on top of Blackey for fifteen seconds before Nguyen drove away. Someone later found the dead pup on the ground and called police. Officers responded to the scene after asking residents to help identify the minivan owner shown in the video.

Investigators tracked her down using license plate reader technology just one day after posting that request. The suspect was identified as Hahn Nguyen, seventy-five years old. She admitted to abandoning Blackey, a black-and-white Pitbull mix, but police say she did not confess to intentionally running him over herself. According to reports from The LA Times, she told detectives she became annoyed when the puppy bit her boyfriend's shoes and other belongings.

Nguyen was booked into the Santa Ana Jail facing charges of animal cruelty and animal abandonment. In California, intentionally harming an animal is a felony punishable by jail time or a fine up to twenty thousand dollars. This case highlights how government tools like plate readers help enforce laws even when suspects try to hide behind limited access to information.