Driver, supervisor fired after photo of unrestrained dog on moving flatbed sparks outrage
Backlash against a locally owned business flared online after a photo of an unrestrained dog on the back of a flatbed truck traveling on I-10 was posted on social media.
The picture of a dog standing by the back of the cab, without a leash to keep it from jumping or falling off the back of the flatbed, was sent to ABC-7 Wednesday .
ABC-7 visited the business listed on the door of the truck, Five Star Automatic Fire Protection.
Veronica Palacios, the vice president of the company, told ABC-7 she was saddened by the photo.
She added that the minute she heard of the incident through angry calls to their office from people who saw the photo online, she called the driver and had him pull over immediately.
Palacios told ABC-7 the driver and the passenger in the truck, a Five Star supervisor, were both terminated.
Palacios said, while the dog belonged to the driver, the supervisor was also fired because he “should have known better.”
“It was a dumb mistake,” she said. “We don’t condone that behavior at all.”
Palacios referred ABC-7 to a statement the company made on its Facebook page, saying it “deplores the conduct” of its former employees.
It also read, “All of our employees have been counseled about the need to avoid endangering any animals in the course of their duties.”
Palacios said the city’s Department of Animal Services got involved but the driver won’t be arrested, charged or fined.
This is because there is no city ordinance prohibiting driving with an animal on an open or flat-bed truck.
“It ties in with the recommendations the city is proposing,” city spokesman Ramon Herrera told ABC-7.
Herrera said the city is looking to add language to the animal ordinance to require animals be properly restrained and kenneled while in a moving vehicle.
The city is holding a public meeting on Thursday, May 14 , to gather input from the community about proposed revisions to Title 7, the city’s animal ordinance.
The meeting is planned for 5:30 p.m. in the main conference room of the Animal Services Shelter, 5001 Fred Wilson Road, in Northeast El Paso.
