Woman who killed Chihuahua during car break-in at SF parking garage gets 3 years

Auto burglary suspect Wakeen Best is accused of hurling a Chihuahua to its death from the seventh floor of San Francisco's Sutter-Stockton Garage Auto burglary suspect Wakeen Best is accused of hurling a Chihuahua to its death from the seventh floor of San Francisco's Sutter-Stockton Garage Photo: San Francisco Police Department Photo: San Francisco Police Department Image 1 of / 48 Caption Close Woman who killed Chihuahua during car break-in at SF parking garage gets 3 years 1 / 48 Back to Gallery

A repeat auto burglar found guilty of killing a Chihuahua during a car break-in at a seven-story downtown San Francisco parking garage this year was given a three-year prison sentence Thursday.

Wakeen “La La” Best, 34, lashed out at San Francisco Superior Court Judge Charles Crompton, who handed down the sentence, calling him an “idiot” and saying “f— you” as she was remanded into custody after the hearing.

Prior to sentencing, Best pleaded with the judge to let her serve part of her time at a residential drug treatment facility.

“Things in this case got blown out of proportion,” Best said, rambling at times. “The media said things that weren’t true. I’m not a violent person, and jail has been very hard for me.”

Though she was sentenced to state prison, Best will serve her time in county jail under the state’s realignment law.

She had maintained her innocence since being arrested shortly after the Feb. 10 crime, but in her statement Thursday she said, “When I found the animal in the car,” before her attorney, Deputy Public Defender Alexandra Pray, interrupted.

A jury found Best guilty of animal cruelty, auto burglary and vandalism in July after one day of deliberation.

Best has a long criminal record, including several smash-and-grab car break-ins. Prosecutors said she has been on probation 13 times, including for a 2016 auto burglary in the same garage at Sutter and Stockton streets. A judge had issued a stay-away order from the area as part of her probation.

The most recent crime happened around 2 p.m. that February day. The owner of a white Mercedes left his small dog, Dunky, inside his vehicle on the seventh story and went to lunch in Chinatown.

While the owner was gone, Best broke into the vehicle and was confronted by the yapping animal, police said.

Prosecutors played dash-camera video from inside the car that captured audio of the break-in and later showed Best walking in front of the car.

The dog was heard frantically yelping before a voice said, “shut yo ass up!” Then silence, before the voice twice said “bitch.”

Prosecutors showed additional video of the dog plunging from the garage and smacking into the ground where it stayed, motionless.

The owner later returned from lunch to find a crowd standing around his deceased dog in the middle of Stockton Street.

“I was completely shocked, because I thought there was no way this could happen,” Chunan Liu said at a preliminary hearing. “I had my puppy’s body in my hands, and I asked, ‘What happened?’”

Police found blood in Liu’s car and on a railing 144 feet away where Dunky was apparently tossed off the seventh floor.

Attendants at the garage recognized Best’s image and voice from the video. Police found her a short distance away and arrested her.

Best’s attorney conceded her client was the figure captured on video walking in front of the car, but she argued someone else broke into the vehicle. Dunky, she said, could have jumped off the ledge on his own.

Evan Sernoffsky is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: esernoffsky@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @EvanSernoffsky