Target: New York Police Department

Sponsored by: Care2.com

Candice A. Salvatore just wanted to save a starving baby pit bull she saw by abandoned train tracks in Staten Island. So she called the police to help her save the puppy before it ran off or died.

But police misunderstood her phone call as referring to a “human baby”. Before she knew it, she was charged with two misdemeanors – for second-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree falsely reporting an incident.

This is ridiculous – Candice Salvatore was just trying to be a good samaritan when a misunderstanding landed her a day in court. We shouldn’t punish people for trying to save puppies. Sign the petition and tell the NYPD to drop these frivolous charges against a kind-hearted person.

To sign this petition go to:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/365/088/489/

NYPD: Staten Island woman left out key detail in ‘abandoned baby’ 911 call — it was a baby pit bull

By John M. Anneses, Staten Island Advance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A dog-lover from Mariners Harbor says she had only the best intentions when she called 911 to report an “abandoned baby” so police would save an emaciated pit bull puppy from her block on Tuesday afternoon.

“I wasn’t thinking that they would think it was an actual infant,” Candice A. Salvatore, 27, told the Advance, adding that she often refers to dogs and animals as “babies.”

“I didn’t tell her it was a human baby. I just said it was a baby,” she said.

The responding officers saw things differently, though — charging her with two misdemeanors, second-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree falsely reporting an incident. Police issued her a summons to appear in court at a later date.

Ms. Salvatore said she and her neighbors on Erastina Place found the emaciated pit bull puppy by a former train trestle, and she wanted police to get there before the dog ran off, or died.

“It was abandoned in the alley… It was starving to death,” she said. “His ribs were sticking out.”

According to a police report, Ms. Salvatore “created substantial risk of serious injury to (the officer) responding to (the) scene.”

After police arrived, she told an officer, “I needed to spice it up to get you guys to come faster,” the report reads. Ms. Salvatore received medical treatment after the arrest, according to police. She told the Advance she couldn’t breathe, and was suffering from pneumonia.

A neighbor took the puppy in after the episode, Ms. Salvatore said.

Ms. Salvatore has since denied the “spice it up,” statement, saying of the arresting officer, “He put words in my mouth.”

Ms. Salvatore said she had initially called 311 in an attempt to reach Animal Care and Control. “I was hung up on, and when I called police, they hung up on me,” she said.

When asked about Ms. Salvatore’s statement, Nicholas Sbordone, a spokesman for the city’s 311 system, confirmed that she called 311, but the operator never hung up. Rather, he said, the call taker transferred her to Animal Care and Control.

“The call was not disengaged at any point at 311,” Sbordone said.

Said Richard Gentles, a spokesman for the city’s Animal Care and Control, “We have no record of her contacting Animal Care and Control.”

She couldn’t take the dog in herself, she said, because she was afraid of how her own dogs might react.

After the 911 call, she said, she got a call back from a dispatcher asking for more information about the baby, and when she was asked, “What type of baby, is it a human baby?” she responded, “No, it’s a puppy baby.”

She said she didn’t expect them to rush to the scene at the risk of an auto accident.

“I didn’t know it was against the law to say that,” she said.

For more on this story go to:

http://www.silive.com/news/index.ssf/2013/03/nypd_staten_island_woman_left.html