David Charvet was accused of killing a dog in Malibu on Thursday morning, after police responded to a reported traffic collision involving a vehicle and a dog. Lost Hills law enforcement said officers arrived to find both parties at the scene, and the owner took the animal for immediate medical attention.
Law enforcement said the dog later died and that a report was written pending further investigation. They would not confirm whether Charvet was involved, and they said they are not treating the incident as a hit-and-run.
That response leaves two versions of the same crash in place. TMZ reported that Charvet was driving a vehicle that struck and killed a dog just before 6 a.m., while Vera Errico said she was walking her three dogs on leashes in a gated Malibu community when Charvet, driving a pick-up truck, hit one of them. Errico said he did not stop after striking the dog, and she believes he left the gated community before calling police.
Errico identified the animal as Sunday, her 11-year-old English Labrador. She and her husband rushed the dog straight to the vet, where the animal had to be euthanized, she said. The case now turns on what officers saw at the scene, what was reported afterward and whether the driver stayed in place long enough for police to determine exactly what happened.
For police, the matter is still under investigation. For Errico, it is already a finished tragedy.