Dog fatally dragged while leashed to vehicle in Carmichael. Driver arrested, sheriff says

A woman was arrested Monday night after allegedly allowing a dog to be dragged to death on Sacramento County roadways while leashed to her vehicle, sheriff’s officials said.

The suspect, a 33-year-old parolee, was reportedly intoxicated and driving an RV when she stopped around 10 p.m. at a business near Fair Oaks Boulevard and Marconi Avenue in Carmichael, the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The woman let her dog out of the vehicle, then got back in the RV and drove away with the dog outside of the vehicle but still leashed to it, according to the news release.

The RV dragged the dog about 100 yards on the roadway before the dog slipped out of the leash, authorities said. Deputies found the dog had died of serious injuries including “significant road rash,” according to the news release.

Deputies located and arrested the driver, who was booked early Tuesday morning into the Sacramento County Main Jail downtown on a felony charge of animal cruelty. Her bail is set at $500,000, jail records show, and she is due to appear in Sacramento Superior Court on Thursday.

Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi described the dog as a mixed breed, approximately 1-year-old.