Blackey was a black-and-white pit bull mix puppy. On the morning of September 8, he was found dead near West Park Lane in Santa Ana.

According to Santa Ana police, his death was no accident. A neighbor told investigators that a woman driving a minivan ran him over on purpose. Police say the driver took Blackey out of the van and set dog food on the ground to draw him to one spot. Then she drove over him. Police say the van appeared to sit on top of the puppy for roughly 15 seconds before it drove off.

Officers used license plate reader cameras to find the vehicle in Anaheim. On October 1, a 75-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of animal cruelty and animal abandonment. Police say she told them Blackey was her own puppy.

Owning a pet does not give anyone the right to hurt it. California law allows animal cruelty to be charged as a felony, and cases like this one show whether those protections hold up.

The Orange County District Attorney's Office now decides what charges to file. Blackey's case deserves a careful review of all the evidence, including the surveillance video and the neighbor's account, and charges that match how serious the police describe this act to be. If the case ends in a conviction, prosecutors should also ask the court to bar the person responsible from owning animals in the future.

A puppy who trusted the hand that fed him deserves justice. Sign the petition to urge the Orange County District Attorney to pursue the strongest charges the evidence supports while charging decisions are still being made.