Help find suspects responsible for throwing dog in dumpster

HOUSTON – Police are asking for help as they try to locate three suspects who were seen on surveillance video throwing a dog into a dumpster.

Officials said the incident occurred on Aug. 12 just before 1 a.m. at 8015 South Gessner in southwest Houston.

According to police, two men were with a third man who was seen throwing a live black and white Pit Bull mixed dog into a dumpster in the parking lot of the U-Haul store. The video shows one of the men closing the lid on the dumpster.

Officials said the suspects then sped off in a white or gray four-door SUV.

Houston police said the general manager of the U-Haul heard a dog barking when he arrived to work later in the morning around 6:45 a.m. He opened the lid of the dumpster and found the dog.

"It looked scared for sure," said manager David Brecker. "It was sitting on top of the trash that was already in the dumpster, just sitting there looking at me."

Brecker said he initially thought the dog may have jumped in the dumpster on his own, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized that scenario was unlikely.  

A few hours after finding the dog, he reviewed surveillance camera footage and then contacted Houston police. 

"I was just shocked," Brecker said. "I didn't think that was possible. I didn't think that anyone was that crazy."

The dog was removed from the dumpster more than 13 hours later, after workers from the nearby South Gessner Pet Clinic arrived to help. 

The dog was examined by a veterinarian at the South Gessner Pet Clinic, and has since been adopted.

Anyone with information on the identities of the three suspects or the dog is asked to call the HPD Major Offenders Division at 713-308-3100 or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

>>Click here to watch the surveillance video.