By Larry Altman Staff Writer
Posted: 02/28/2010 05:45:27 PM PST
Updated: 02/28/2010 10:50:07 PM PST
Disputing statements by his mother and police officers, an Inglewood man says his girlfriend did not purposely kill his puppy by flinging the animal into a Hawthorne street last week.
"That's not what happened that day," Hakeem Funtua said in a weekend interview. "My mom's statement is false."
Funtua, 23, who was arrested on suspicion of obstructing police officers as they tried to take his girlfriend, Danielle Graham, into custody, said the dog's death was an accident and Graham did not intend to hurt the pit bull named Gucci.
"The dog wasn't thrown in the street on purpose," Funtua said after contacting the Daily Breeze on Saturday.
"She didn't have a good grip on the dog and the dog ran into traffic. The dog actually more like slid into the street under the tire."
Funtua's version of events Wednesday afternoon in the 12900 block of Prairie Avenue conflicts with what police officers and his mother said happened.
Police said two Hawthorne police officers about a block away watched the incident unfold in front of them.
A police statement said officers saw a woman pull a pit bull puppy by the chain attached to its collar and throw the puppy into traffic.
Hawthorne police Lt. Gary Tomatani said he had no reason to discount his officers' version of what occurred. It was corroborated by statements by Funtua's mother to police and in an interview with the Daily Breeze.
"We have no reason to doubt the
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validity of our first version that was released," he said.
Funtua's mother told the Daily Breeze last week that Graham was angry that Funtua told her to stay behind with the dog while the rest of the family was going to pick up his 12-year-old sisters from school.
The mother said Graham grabbed the dog by the choker of the chain, said, "Eff this dog," and tossed the puppy with a circular motion into traffic.
The dog, she said, landed on a car's roof and rolled under the vehicle.
Funtua said his mother was not telling the truth.
"My mom is an exaggerator and she over-exaggerates everything," Funtua said. "My mom and (Graham) weren't on good terms that day. They have their own little arguments."
Although his mother said Funtua brought the dog home about six weeks ago for his sisters, Funtua said he gave the dog to Graham as "a gift to cheer her up" after a miscarriage.
Funtua, who has three children, said Graham became pregnant again, but miscarried Wednesday when she scuffled with police officers.
He claimed the Los Angeles woman was beaten in jail, requiring a trip to Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood.
Tomatani said Graham was treated at the hospital, but only directly after the scuffle on Prairie as a matter of routine.
Doctors determined she did not have any injuries and authorized her to be booked at the Hawthorne jail.
"If the hospital staff or we were aware of any miscarriage, we would not have been able to keep her in any jail," Tomatani said.
Graham did not have any medical problems while behind bars, Tomatani said.
"She did not leave our jail facility until she went to court Friday morning," the lieutenant said.
Graham appeared Friday at the Airport Courthouse, where she pleaded not guilty to animal cruelty and resisting arrest charges.
She shook nervously during the proceeding and could be heard shrieking when bailiffs returned her to court lockup.
Funtua said he and Graham had an argument Wednesday because he had missed a court appearance for a ticket he received for possessing medicinal marijuana.
Funtua said he needed to provide paperwork that showed he legally possessed the drug, which was prescribed because he was stabbed in the heart two years ago during a robbery at the Greyhound bus station in downtown Los Angeles.
Graham, he said, forced him to go to court and was going to wait in the car with the dog while he went inside.
"She was mad and she didn't have a good grip on the dog," he said.
"She grabbed it forcefully. The dog shook loose and ran in the street. When the dog got run over, she started screaming hysterically."
A Hawthorne police statement said the officers who witnessed what happened tried to arrest Graham, but she resisted.
Funtua, police said, jumped into the fray to help her.
Officers used pepper spray on the pair, but required help from backup officers to subdue them. One officer was injured, police said.
Funtua said he struggled with the officers because he feared his girlfriend would miscarry their child.
"They attacked her and started to detain her," he said. "She was emotional."
Funtua was charged with two misdemeanor counts of resisting or obstructing a peace officer.
He said he pleaded no contest Friday and was given credit for the two days he spent in jail, put on two years' probation and released.
The disposition could not be verified over the weekend.
Funtua said he didn't know if he would resume his relationship with his girlfriend of two years when she is released from jail.
"I'll take her back, but we are going to have to have a long talk," he said.
"She was very emotional in court. It's an issue with her emotionals."
larry.altman@dailybreeze.com
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