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SANTA MONICA — The co-CEO of an environmental risk management firm has been accused of animal cruelty after video surfaced showing a man swinging a dog around by its collar and smacking it in the elevator of a Santa Monica apartment building.
Civilian officers with the Santa Monica Police Department’s Animal Services Unit responded to the 1700 block of Ocean Avenue on Sept. 4 and were given video of the incident and information about the person involved, according to the department. The incident occurred on Aug. 22, according to a report in the Daily Mail.
Santa Monica resident Jeffrey Previte, who was recently appointed co-CEO of EBI Consulting, has been accused of animal cruelty.
Officers attempted to meet with the person and check on the condition of the dog but were unable to locate either the man or the animal, police said.
During a follow-up investigation Saturday, officers were able to talk with the man by phone and received images showing the dog was still in his care. Officers later checked on the condition of the dog seen in the video, police said.
The man in the video was identified by the Daily Mail as Jeffrey Previte, the co-CEO for EBI Consulting, an environmental risk and compliance management consultancy firm. He was named to the post last month, the paper said.
Based on the information received, animal control officers turned their reports over to police detectives who will present their case to the District Attorney’s Office for possible animal cruelty charges, the department said.
The breed of the dog was unclear.
Source:: Los Angeles Daily News
