Dog hurt after being dragged behind SUV

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Neighbors say it was a gruesome scene. A man was driving through the west side of Buffalo, with his dog dragging behind him, until one neighbor stepped in.

Caged and crying, "Gotti" the pit bull rests uncomfortably with a cone around his neck. His paws are wrapped in gauze, after he was dragged through the streets of Buffalo.

Shawntelle Fanin said she saw 36-year-old Daniel Delaney driving a yellow SUV, Sunday down Arkansas Street with his own dog dragging behind.

"It was very, very bad. The paws were all bloodied and battered. The dog was crying; the dog was awfully scared and shaking. It never moved after the man stopped the car," she recounted.

Sources tell News 4, Delaney was stopped and later arrested on Arkansas Street by a K-9 officer who was flagged down. Witnesses say he was traveling about 30 miles an hour with the dog chained to the back of his SUV.

The dog was rushed to the Erie County SPCA, where he is being treated for his wounds. The pads were stripped from his paws.

Delaney told officers he forgot the dog was there.

Erie County SPCA Executive Director Barbara Carr said, "Thank goodness we hardly ever see anything like this. I know he is extremely remorseful, but I mean, if you have a pet, if you have a child, if you have something that you're supposed to be responsible for, being remorseful is certainly not an excuse."

Delaney pleaded not guilty to aggravated cruelty to animals in Buffalo City Court, but is being held on $25,000 bail.

Fanin said, "I think he's getting what he deserves. No one has to see that. No one. No dog deserves that, not to be dragged like that. That was surely animal cruelty."