In this case, the dog survived. But its owner, Joana Tieu, vice president at Walden International, a tech and semiconductor investment firm, had some choice words for the angry mob that broadcast footage of her returning to her vehicle on the Citizen crime reporting app.
Reached by phone, Tieu declined to confirm that she works at Walden. But DMV records list her as the car’s only owner, and public records link her name to the phone number she answered and a Walden email address.
“They probably should focus attention on the things that they need to be focused on, such as homeless people sleeping on the street,” Tieu told The Standard when reached by phone Wednesday.
The video shows a dog barking in the passenger seat of a Lexus sedan with at least two windows cracked open.
A crowd, some with dogs, gathered. In the clip, the citizen user can be heard saying, “We’re going to shame them publicly.”
When the owner returns, an onlooker curses at her.
“You left your dog in this car for over a half-hour in this heat! Shame on you! You are a shitty dog owner! You’re an animal abuser,” yelled one woman who had two leashed dogs in tow.
Tieu said Wednesday that the mob was rude and that her dog was fine. He was in the car—with the windows cracked—because she was at a doctor’s appointment that took longer than expected and she simply must take him everywhere.
“He cannot be by himself because he gets miserable,” Tieu said by phone while refusing to divulge the dog’s name. “He’s not used to it.”
“I have no one to watch over him,” she added. “I have to take him with me.”
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