SOUTHINGTON, Conn. — A New Britain woman has been arrested after allegedly discarding two cats in the Southington Walmart parking lot, then striking and killing one of them with her vehicle, according to Southington police.
Ana Rodriguez, 65, was arrested and charged with two counts of animal cruelty after the April 15 incident, police said. She turned herself in on Friday.
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On April 15, Southington police were dispatched to the parking lot of the Walmart on Queen Street to assist with an animal complaint, police said, after receiving a report that a vehicle, possibly a black Nissan Rogue, dropped off a cat and an injured kitten there.
Police said that Southington’s Animal Control officers located the cats in the parking lot and discovered a dead kitten; a witness reported to Animal Control that the individual who dropped off the cats ran over and killed the kitten with the vehicle.
The witness described the SUV and its female operator, police said, noting that the witness saw the female open the rear of the vehicle and remove two cats into the parking lot; the witness said the driver subsequently struck one of the cats with the vehicle while pulling out of the parking space.
Police said the adult female cat had a compound fracture to its right hind leg with the bone protruding through the skin, resulting in an amputation of the injured leg. An X-ray of the dead kitten concluded the cause of death was consistent with being run over by a vehicle, police said.
The incident was captured on video, police said, helping them to identify the vehicle. Police said the video shows the suspect running the kitten over before slowly driving away.
Police said they tracked the vehicle down to Rodriguez’s residence in New Britain on Governor Street and that after initially denying being responsible, she later admitted to leaving the cats in the parking lot with no food, water, or shelter; she still denied running over the kitten.
Veterinarians could not determine how the larger cat was injured, police said, but they did conclude that it was a recent traumatic injury that could have occurred if the animal was run over by a car.
Police said the investigation determined Rodriguez “intentionally released both cats in a busy retail parking lot during business hours with no food, water, shelter or regard for their health and safety, resulting in the death of the kitten and the neglect of a serious bodily injury to a second cat,” according to a release.
After being charged with the two counts of animal cruelty, Rodriguez turned herself in to Southington police on Friday and was processed and released on a court-set bond of $2,500, police said, noting that Rodriguez will appear in New Britain Court at 9 a.m. on May 20.
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Dalton Zbierski is a digital content producer and writer at FOX61 News. He can be reached at dzbierski@FOX61.com.
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