Pit bull stuck in truck for more than 20 hours

Now its owner faces animal cruelty charge

An anonymous 911 caller reported a foul smell.

Hollywood Police officers found a truck with flies covering its driver’s side, opened the door and found a pit bull dead on the floor.

Sasha Koval, 27, who Hollywood Police said left the dog with no food or water in the truck for over 20 hours on sweltering summer days, is facing an aggravated animal cruelty charge.

Koval left her brindle pit bull inside a truck on June 18 because she had to go to work and had nowhere to take the dog, she told officers, according to a probable cause affidavit. The affidavit said she is homeless.

Hollywood Police said the truck belonged to an acquaintance of Koval. Officers spoke to a woman, whose name is redacted in the affidavit, who said her boyfriend owns the truck and had been out of town for two weeks.

Surveillance video from a motel in the 1100 block of South Federal Highway showed the moment the dog was found dead, according to the affidavit.

In the video, a man opened the door of the truck on June 19, a day after Koval said she put the dog inside, and appeared upset, the affidavit said. He then bent over in front of the truck.

It is unclear whether the man who was seen on the surveillance video is the truck’s owner. The affidavit describes him as an “unknown” male.

The truck was parked in an alleyway in the 1800 block of Rodman Street when officers investigated on June 22. The dog was still inside on the floorboard, the affidavit said. By then, it was in the beginning stages of decomposition, Hollywood Police said in an email Wednesday.

Officers found Koval on Friday at 1 Young Circle Drive, where she was arrested. She told them that when she came back from work on June 18, she fell asleep and forgot about the dog.

Koval has since been released from the Broward Main Jail.