Taho, a canine thrown from a car, was handled for a damaged leg and is seen on Feb. 1, 2023. He was later euthanized. (Courtesy of the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office)
A Minneapolis lady who admitted to throwing a puppy from a stolen pickup truck throughout a pursuit with Ramsey County deputies has been sentenced to 3 years of probation and ordered to not personal animals.
Raylean Chastity Gurneau, 27, was a passenger within the truck when she threw the pitbull puppy into the trail of a pursuing squad automobile in Arden Hills on Jan. 30. The puppy survived, however had a damaged leg and several other cuts. Despite surgical procedure and behavioral rehabilitation, the canine was euthanized in April.
Gurneau pleaded responsible in August to animal cruelty and making a false 911 name, and on Monday Ramsey County District Judge Adam Yang gave her a downward departure from state sentencing pointers.
Yang stayed a two-year jail sentence and ordered Gurneau, who had spent 171 days in custody after her arrest, to finish 50 hours of neighborhood service and “not to own or have custody over any pet or animal” throughout probation.
In March, Gurneau was additionally sentenced to 3 years of probation after pleading responsible to aiding and abetting animal cruelty in an unrelated case through which she and a person, allegedly Chue Feng Yang, dumped a severely wounded canine in a Bloomington car parking zone in November 2021. The canine had been shot 10 to 12 instances with a BB gun, together with in an eye fixed, which needed to be surgically eliminated.
Yang, 33, of St. Paul, was fatally shot by FBI brokers who had been attempting to arrest him on warrants from Ramsey and Hennepin counties on April 27 in Minneapolis. Yang was shot after he barricaded himself in a Minneapolis home and later got here out with a shotgun pointed at Gurneau’s head, based on a federal search warrant. He and Gurneau had been tied collectively after they got here exterior and he’d livestreamed himself speaking to a negotiator.
Fake 911 name, actual carjackings
According to the Ramsey County legal criticism, a deputy noticed the motive force of a 2012 Ford F-150 dashing on Little Canada Road close to Interstate 35E and undergo a purple gentle simply earlier than 11 p.m. Jan. 30. The driver, later decided to be Donovan Alan Goodman, fled the deputy, driving into opposing traffic along Rice Street earlier than merging onto I-694 and going westbound within the eastbound lanes.
At about the identical time, different deputies had been dispatched to Interstate 35E and Little Canada Road for a reported carjacking that turned out to be a hoax. Gurneau, who recognized herself as “Melissa,” informed dispatch {that a} car had been carjacked and somebody had been shot.
Meanwhile, Goodman continued to flee the mistaken means on I-694 at speeds as much as 75 mph. He exited at Lexington Avenue, drove round tire spikes and went into opposing lanes of site visitors. As deputies caught up, Gurneau threw the canine, which “rolled multiple times on the pavement,” the criticism stated.
The truck was stopped after a deputy employed a PIT maneuver. Goodman and Yang ran, carjacked separate autos and evaded arrest, the criticism stated.
Gurneau was arrested. She confirmed indicators of an overdose and was given a number of doses of Narcan earlier than being taken to Regions Hospital.
Inside a backpack discovered on Gurneau’s lap was about 189 grams of methamphetamine. It additionally included Goodman’s telephone that Gurneau used to report the sham carjacking.
Deputies used drones and a blood path to seek for the puppy, which was discovered the following day cowering in snow. Overnight temperatures had been within the single digits beneath zero. The dog was taken to an animal hospital and given the name Taho. Veterinary prices exceeded $15,000.
The canine was euthanized in April as a result of he couldn’t overcome the “severe trauma and abuse” and there had been a sequence of biting incidents, according to a pet rescue organization that attempted to supply him with behavioral rehabilitation.
Goodman arrested
Goodman was suspected of pointing a gun at a Minneapolis police officer after which carjacking an Uber driver with two passengers on Feb. 25. Later that day, he was arrested at a home within the 300 block of Burgess Street in St. Paul’s North End after an hour-long stand-off with police.
Goodman admitted to a Ramsey County sheriff’s workplace investigator and an FBI agent that he was driving the stolen pickup truck a month earlier in Little Canada and Arden Hills. He additionally stated he knew methamphetamine was within the car and admitted that when the pursuit ended he ran after which carjacked a car he later ditched in Mounds View. He recognized Yang as the opposite man within the pickup, and in addition stated Gurneau threw the canine from the truck.
Federal prosecutors introduced costs towards Goodman, 34, in March. He pleaded responsible in June to 2 counts of carjacking and one rely of brandishing a firearm throughout and in relation to a criminal offense of violence. He was sentenced last month to almost 18 years in federal jail.
