Video of Felix Reyes Animal Abuse at Baldwin Park

This is from:

http://lacdacc.blogspot.com/2009/01/video-footage-of-felix-reyes-animal.html

Ryan Olshan:

Today I received the video footage of Felix Reyes brutally abusing a Rottweiler with a dislocated hip at the Baldwin Park Animal Shelter. Two of the video files were corrupt and as such I will be requesting non-corrupted copies of the corrupted files. In the meanwhile, I put together the three non-corrupted files.

County didn't want to release this footage under the California Public Records Act and as such put a price tag of $500.00 on it to deter it's release by claiming that the video footage needed to be redacted to block out faces of members of the public and employees for privacy and personnel reasons. County had no merit to this claim as I informed them that no expectation of privacy is reasonable and backed it up with legal authority. They continued to insist that they were right. In the end, their plan to charge $500.00 backfired as it was paid by me and another party requesting the video footage. The footage needed to be released regardless of the cost, even if it meant taking County to court to be ordered by a judge to hand over the footage. County's response to this Public Records Act request was in violation of the following provisions of law: Government Code Section 6253 (a), (b), (c), and (d); and California Constitution Article 1, Section 3(b)(1). This is not the first time they've violated the Public Records Act.

In the words of President Obama in a memorandum regarding the Freedom of Information Act, "The Government should not keep information confidential merely because public officials might be embarrassed by disclosure, because errors and failures might be revealed, or because of speculative or abstract fears. Nondisclosure should never be based on an effort to protect the personal interests of Government officials at the expense of those they are supposed to serve." County has a lot to cover up and this is why they make Public Records Act requests seeking such records difficult to obtain.

Please note that the below video footage is extremely graphic. Select a download below or click play in the embedded YouTube video. You can also read and download the internal report.

(Muzika: I tried to download the links, but they did not download. Go to Ryan's blog for the links. THESE ANIMAL CRUELTY TAPES ARE VERY HARD TO TAKE.)

http://lacdacc.blogspot.com/2009/01/video-footage-of-felix-reyes-animal.html

Ryan:

There is no substantiated case for this incident in the reports on the LA County Fraud Hotline website. As such, this was never investigated by or referred to the Office of County Investigations or no wrongdoing was found if it was investigated. No criminal animal cruelty charges were filed and Felix Reyes was not fired. It is reported that he's still an employee of the Department of Animal "Care" and Control working at the call center located at the Downey Animal Shelter. Felix Reyes should not be allowed to work in any occupation that deals with animals.

This abuse establishes a pattern as outlined below:
Daniel Robledo stepped on and kicked dogs.

A rabbit with an exposed spinal cord went unnoticed and untreated for over a week at the Carson Animal Shelter.

Melvin Sparks allegedly injected animals with air and cleaning solution, drowned squirrels, and injected pigeons with Fatal Plus and then released them to see how far they could fly before dropping to the ground.

At the May 17, 2008 Downey Animal Shelter protest, Animal Shelter Aide Sherman dragged two dogs as they rolled on the hot asphalt across the parking lot.

On the show Animal Cops on Animal Planet, people have been arrested and charged for lesser offenses of animal cruelty. Felix Reyes needs be charged with felony animal cruelty and fired. Demand that this happen by calling and emailing the County officials listed below. Also, contact any media contacts you have and refer them to this blog entry.

Steve Cooley
District Attorney
County of Los Angeles
Email: SCooley@da.lacounty.gov

Debbie Knaan
Deputy District Attorney
County of Los Angeles
Email: DKnaan@da.lacounty.gov

District Attorney's Office
County of Los Angeles
210 West Temple Street, Suite 18000
Los Angeles, CA 90012-3210
Phone: (213) 974-3512

Gloria Molina
Supervisor, First District
Board of Supervisors
Email: Molina@bos.lacounty.gov
Phone: (213) 974-4111

Mark Ridley-Thomas
Supervisor, Second District
Board of Supervisors
Email: SecondDistrict@bos.lacounty.gov
Phone: (213) 974-2222

Zev Yaroslavsky
Supervisor, Third District
Board of Supervisors
Email: ZYarosla@lacbos.org
Phone: (213) 974-3333

Don Knabe
Supervisor, Fourth District
Board of Supervisors
Email: DKnabe@lacbos.org
Phone (213) 974-4444

Michael Antonovich
Supervisor, Fifth District
Board of Supervisors
Email: MAntonovich@lacbos.org
Phone: (213) 974-5555