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July 19 (UPI) -- A New Jersey man is charged with two counts of animal cruelty after he pulled another driver's dog from his car and threw it into traffic during a road rage incident. Marc Dionne, 22, was arrested and charged with torture and torment of a living creature after the incident was caught on video and went viral online.
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The video doesn't show the lead-up to the incident, but it begins with Gary Keay and Dionne in a physical confrontation in the middle of a street in Montclair, N.J. Keay had the upper-hand and easily shoved Dionne away.
As Keay walked back to the driver-side of his vehicle, Dionne ran up to the passenger side, opened the door and grabbed a small, 12-year-old miniature pinscher named Daphne. He then tossed the dog out into the street, jumped into his car and took off.
As Dionne made his getaway, Daphne ran back to her owner's car. According to NorthJersey.com, Daphne only had light bruising and no serious injuries from the attack.
"Obviously [Dionne] couldn't get the best of me, so he chose to take an innocent animal and try to hurt me with that," Kaey told CBS New York.
Jessica Borg, Dionne's mother, said her son is the victim in this case.
"I think [Kaey] should be punished for assaulting my son," she said.
As for grabbing the dog and throwing it into the street, Borg said it was a misunderstanding.
"Unfortunately without thinking, Marc was trying to get the guy away from him, and therefore he reached into the car. He's not an animal hater, he's an animal lover," she said.
