Woman guilty of tossing small dog to his death in car break-in
A woman charged with killing a Chihuahua during a San Francisco auto burglary that ended with her hurling the dog’s body off the seventh story of a downtown parking garage was found guilty Friday.
A San Francisco Superior Court jury found Wakeen Best, 34, guilty of animal cruelty, auto burglary and vandalism after just one day of deliberation.
Best was arrested shortly after the Feb. 10 incident, during which she broke into a white Mercedes on the seventh story of the high-rise parking structure at Stockton and Sutter streets and encountered a 5-year-old Chihuahua named Dunky.
“This defendant showed no remorse and is responsible for the death of a little, defenseless animal,” District Attorney George Gascón said. “This verdict is a small step toward bringing justice for Dunky. This verdict also sends a
clear message that in San Francisco there are consequences for harming our beloved pets.”
Dash-camera footage inside the vehicle captured audio of the break-in, in which the dog is heard yelping as the car alarm blares. A voice that prosecutors alleged was Best is heard twice saying “shut yo ass up!” and then “bitch” as the yelping stops.
A second recording from the camera captured Best walking in front of the car to an exit after prosecutors said she threw the dog over a nearby railing.
Best’s attorney, Deputy Public Defender Alexandra Pray, admitted during the weeklong trial that her client was the figure captured in the second video but argued that it was someone else who broke into the car and killed Dunky.
Many San Francisco parking garages, including the Sutter-Stockton Garage, have since installed fencing, signage and more security cameras to discourage car burglars, police said.
The dog’s owner testified that he left the animal in the car while grabbing lunch in Chinatown and came back to see a crowd gathered around his deceased pet in the middle of the street.
He then returned to his vehicle and found broken glass and blood on the seats.
Prosecutors played security video from the parking garage showing the dog plummeting off the building and smacking down below onto the pavement.
Court records show that Best has a lengthy rap sheet of car breakins in San Francisco and was well known to the employees of the Sutter Street garage, where she was often spotted on the seventh floor.
Best was on probation for a previous auto burglary in the garage and a judge had issued a stay-away order from the area.
“The particularly cruel circumstances of this case spurred SFPD investigators to quickly identify the suspect from prior contacts and make an arrest,” Police Chief Bill Scott said in a statement Friday.
The crime came at the height of an auto-burglary epidemic in San Francisco that saw about 30,000 break-ins in 2017, the most on record. Police said auto burglaries in San Francisco are down 20 percent this year.