OLATHE, Kan. — A family is furious with one man saying he killed their dog right in front of their house.
This week, Poochies turned a year old.
"She was the best dog I've ever had," Kirsytn Barlow Lara said.
Lara and her family rescued the dog when she was a month old.
"I saved her from being hit by a car. She was really really tiny," Lara said.
But on Thursday, a cruel twist of fate in front of their home on the 300 block of North Monroe.
"She ran out into the front yard, ran across the street and I called her name," Lara said. "As she was running back, a guy in a truck, going fairly fast, clipped her back leg."
Lara and her children, who were heading to a play date, were horrified by what she said the driver did next.
"He didn't say anything to me, he walked down to her as she was in the middle of getting up to come home and he picked her up and he took her on the side of the street and he stabbed her in the neck," Lara described.
Lara said the driver then wrapped Poochies in a tarp and brought the chihuahua back to her.
"He said that he had no other choice that her back was broken and that she went up underneath her wheel well and that he had to put her out of her misery," Lara said.
Lara was furious.
"I want him to realize what he did was wrong it wasn't his life to take. He wasn't a vet. I wanted to be able to take my dog to a vet, to a hospital," she said.
Lara called Olathe police who on Friday, talked with the driver after distributing his photo to the media.
The man, whose name was not revealed, has not been charged.
Police are investigating this as a case of animal cruelty.
Animal activists told 41 Action News the law has to change.
"All the guys do is get a misdemeanor and they're just pled out and they pay a fine and then that's it," Tristen Woods, an attorney at the Jungle Law firm said. "They get a year probation or diversion then nothing ever happens to them on these things.
In Missouri, the Jungle Law Firm is working with legislators on a bill that would make animal cruelty cases of any kind a felony and would place convicted individuals on a registry similar to sex offenders.
They're looking for supporters, for more information visit their website.
According to Kansas law, animal cruelty is defined as knowingly killing, injuring, torturing or burning any animal. It also includes abandoning an animal. Cruelty to animals may be a misdemeanor or a felony.
Justice is what Lara wants as they mourn Poochies' passing.
"She was a family member. She wasn't just a dog," Lara said.
A GoFundMe campaign has been established in Poochies honor.
