A callous dog-napper with more than 40 previous arrests snatched a senior Shih Tzu from its stroller inside a Manhattan subway station last week, and has already been arrested and released — while the beloved pooch is still nowhere to be found.
McKina Artis, 50, of East Harlem, was bringing the pampered 11-year-old pup, Lady, back home from the groomer on July 6 when Lady’s cup fell from her stroller and rolled down the steps of the 125th Street-Lexington Avenue station.
Artis stepped away for an instant to find the cup – but that was enough time for the thief to grab Lady out of her stroller and make a run for it, Artis told The Post by phone.
Even a security guard wasn’t quick enough to catch the fleet-footed dog-napper – later identified by cops as Ali Tarawally, 33, she said.
“Lady is my emotional support dog,” Artis said. “When I walked back up those stairs, my stomach dropped past my feet. It went into the concrete of the train station. I couldn’t believe it. I just couldn’t believe it. I’ve been crying every day. I can barely eat.”
Tarawally, of West Harlem, was picked up Thursday by cops and charged with petit larceny and criminal possession of stolen property, but didn’t produce Lady, according to authorities and Artis.
Prosecutors requested that Tarawally be held on $10,000 bail or $30,000 bond, but Judge Ilona Coleman granted him supervised release, according to the Manhattan DA’s Office.
“That shows me that the judge didn’t have any consideration, as if Lady was nothing,” Artis said. “Basically, there’s like no protection for these animals, and people love their animals. People love their animals like their kids.”
“I love Lady like she is my kid. My daughters will tell you that they think that I love Lady more than I love them. I love them equally, but I love Lady so deeply.”
Tarawally’s rap sheet dates back to 2012, with the most serious offense being grand larceny for allegedly stealing a sleeping straphanger’s phone on the train in November, law enforcement sources said.
He’s also been busted for criminal mischief, petit larceny, criminal tampering, drug possession, and theft of service, according to the sources.
“What is it that they’re waiting for this man to do?” Artis said. “Are they waiting for this man to literally hurt a human being, like push somebody off the train tracks? Like, what has to be done in order for this man to be sitting in jail for at least a year?”
Tarawally is next scheduled to appear in court on August 11 – the frustrated dog owner’s birthday.
Investigators informed Artis that Tarawally got off the train with Lady at the President St-Medgar Evers College station in Brooklyn, she said.
Since then, the devastated owner has been plastering the neighborhood with missing dog flyers — despite fears that the alleged thief already sold her Shih Tzu.
“Although she’s a senior, she’s a very cute dog,” Artis said. “She’s well-kept. She has a purple ponytail on her hair. She wears clothes.
“I think the attention that Lady got originally was because he saw that she was cute,” she added. “He probably figured he could sell her.”
But Artis said Lady has been spayed, so she can’t be used for breeding, and suffers from health issues.
In a now-viral TikTok posted by a tearful Artis and her daughter Christina, they described Lady as a “Velcro baby” who won’t eat or drink without her owner by her side and pleaded for her return.
“I got her for my middle daughter’s Sweet 16,” said the mom of three, who has lived in East Harlem for seven years. “And Lady kind of leaned towards me….I’m Lady’s ying, and she’s my yang.”
“She’s my everything,” Artis added. “I just don’t even have the words to express what Lady means to me.”
