MIAMI (WSVN) – A good Samaritan who was captured on video swimming to the rescue of a dog in distress said the animal’s owner pushed it into the water on purpose and prevented others from coming to its aid. Then things turned physical.
Disturbing video captured bystanders screaming at the man moments after the canine ended up in the bay on Brickell Key, near the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Friday evening.
“She’s trying to help you. Your dog is drowning, you [expletive] lunatic!” said a witness.
“She” is Jadee Guidice. Speaking with 7News on Sunday, the good Samaritan said she was walking in the area when she saw the commotion.
“And saw a man kick his dog into the bay,” she said.
Guidice said the dog’s owner then tried to keep concerned bystanders away as the animal struggled to swim.
“As soon as we saw that, we ran over to him and asked him what was happening, what was going on,” she said, “and he handed me his cellphone and asked me to film him, that he does this all the time for his show.”
Guidice said no, and she told the man the dog needed help. That was when, she said, the situation escalated.
“He pushed me to the ground, he pushed another man that tried to intervene, and this went on for quite some time,” she said. “It got to the point where the dog had been in there for a while.”
Guidice said she decided to take matters into her own hands, because what the dog’s owner didn’t know is that she is trained for situations like this.
“I was a lifeguard, I was a competitive swimmer. I felt like it was my duty to do something,” she said.
Guidice said she jumped in to help the dog, but the man bystanders called a “lunatic” jumped in as well.
But Guidice prevailed. She eventually got the dog out of the bay and back to safety.
“All I was trying to do was help the dog. That was pretty much my number one focus through this entire encounter is, the dog looked like it was in distress, to do something to help it,” she said.
Guidice said she plans to press charges against the man who pushed her. The dog was not injured.
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