MERRIMACK, N.H. (WHDH) - A Merrimack, New Hampshire woman is facing an animal cruelty charge after police say she pushed her 11-year-old Golden Retriever into a lake and made no effort to save it as it drowned, officials said.

Police officers responding to Wasserman Park around 7 p.m. on June 8 to assist the Fire Department with retrieving a dog that had drowned in Naticook Lake spoke with witnesses who told them Nancy Bucciarelli, 66, had just pushed her dog off a dock and into the lake, where it struggled to swim and eventually drowned, according to the Merrimack Police Department.

Bucciarelli was arrested Friday after an investigation determined she intentionally pushed her dog into the lake and made no effort to help it while it was drowning in 3-and-a-half feet of water.

She was released on public recognizance pending her June 27 arraignment in Merrimack Circuit Court on a charge of cruelty to animals.

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