Minneapolis woman enters guilty plea for throwing puppy from moving car
Raylean Chastity Gurneau (Courtesy: Ramsey County Sheriff's Office)
A Minneapolis woman pleaded guilty Wednesday to two charges after throwing a puppy out of a car moving at speeds up to 75 mph.
Raylean Chastity Gurneau, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of mistreating animals and one count of placing a fictitious emergency 911 call to prompt response in exchange for the dismissal of four other charges and separate pending charges. The maximum sentence for both of those charges is one year in prison or a $3,000 fine.
A criminal complaint states that on the night of Jan. 30, 33-year-old Donovan Alan Goodman led Ramsey County deputies on a chase while traveling the wrong way on Interstate 694 in a stolen Ford F150. In the midst of the pursuit, one of the pickup’s rear doors opened, and a small white dog tumbled out and onto the road.
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One officer pursuing the stolen F150 executed a PIT maneuver, which caused it to stop in the median of the highway. Goodman and another unidentified male suspect ran out, and each suspect carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint before driving off, the complaint states.
Gurneau and another woman were found in the back seat of the F150, along with a backpack containing 189 grams of methamphetamine. Gurneau “showed signs of an overdose” and received several doses of Narcan, a complaint states.
The day after the chase, Ramsey County deputies found the puppy that had been thrown from the car. He had a broken leg and several cuts but was expected to survive. The puppy, named “Taho,” was euthanized in April after exhibiting a pattern of biting dogs and people alike. Despite efforts to rehabilitate him, there was no clear trigger for the behavior and Taho had to be euthanized, according to Pet Haven MN.
RELATED: Dog thrown from vehicle during Ramsey County chase euthanized: ‘He deserved kindness’
As previously reported, Goodman was eventually tracked to his home in St. Paul after he had stolen an Uber driver’s car in Minneapolis on Feb. 23.
In an interview with law enforcement, he confirmed that Gurneau was the one who threw the puppy out of the vehicle. He also said that Gurneau had made a phony 911 call with claims of being shot and carjacked to divert police.
Another man who was in the car, Chue Feng Yang, was shot and killed in April by FBI agents after he left a Minneapolis home with a gun pointed at Gurneau’s head.
In the summer of 2022, Gurneau pleaded guilty to a previous charge of animal cruelty when a dog that was placed in her care was found shot 10-12 times with a BB gun and needed to have its eye surgically removed.