Man accused of killing girlfriend’s dog after argument

A Forest Hills man allegedly killed his girlfriend’s dog just hours before the Queens DA announced the new Animal Cruelty Prosecutions Unit, formed to investigate and prosecute such crimes.

Carlos Hernandez, 32, was arrested Sunday on charges of killing his girlfriend’s dog after an argument, the New York Daily News reported. Hernandez reportedly ripped the dog from his girlfriend’s arms and slammed it to the floor; the dog died 15 minutes later.

One day after Hernandez’s arrest, Queens DA Richard A. Brown announced the formation of the Animal Cruelty Prosecutions Unit, the first of its kind in a District Attorney’s Office in New York City.

“Acts of animal cruelty can range from neglect and abandonment to serious physical injury and even death, and can include such organized blood sports as dog and gamecock fighting which are inhumanly staged for the entertainment and gambling purposes of their spectators and in which the animals are encouraged to fight to the death,” Brown said in an official statement.

The newly formed animal cruelty unit will work closely with the New York City Police Department’s Animal Cruelty Investigations Squad in pursing allegations of animal cruelty in Queens County.

Hernandez was arrested and charged with criminal mischief and injuring an animal, the Daily News reported, adding that he had originally fled the scene but was apprehended later.