Jena Malone helped save a small dog who was being abused on the side of a Los Angeles street this week.
The "Hunger Games" actress told NBC LA that she was driving on Sunset Blvd. when she saw a man repeatedly beating a dog. She then pulled over and chased him down and others joined. Once some the group caught up with the man, they beat up the man while waiting for police.
News video showed Jena and others holding the dog — named Champion — after the incident was over. The "Goliath" star said Champ was taken to an animal hospital and treated for a fractured rib, broken bones in his hind legs and a fracture in the right paw.
The man, who was arrested for animal cruelty, was actually not the dog's owner. The pooch had been missing for a week, and has since been reunited with its family.
Jena tweeted about the incident afterward.
"This was really scary. I saw a man kicking repeatedly a small dog on the sunset, yanking him up in the air and absolutely choking the dog. I yelled at him to stop from my car but he wouldn't. I got out of my car to try and get the dog but he started running," she wrote. "So I started chasing him. I saw other people watching on the street upset, as they must have seen the same abhorrent behavior I witnessed, so I tried to signal a man in an orange vest to run with me to chase him. Cause at that point I really didn't think I was going to be able to get the dog back by myself. After another block of chasing him down I looked back and there were 5 other men behind me pursuing him. Which felt like a miracle."
She continued, "So at this point I held back and let them take the lead as I have no business trying to restrain a full grown man. I went back to get my car (it was still running ) and drove to see if they caught him. 6 blocks down from where the chase began a big group had gathered and it look like the man no longer had the dog. So I pulled over to make sure that dog was going to be cared for. I didn't see the brawl but I was told that the man did not give up the dog without a fight."
After police arrested the man, Jena said, "I waited with dog til another cop came to take them to the hospital. The dog was covered in filth and looked like it had been not taken care of for months."
Although she wasn't a part of the fight, she's sorry that the incident "ended in a brawl." Still, she insists that the dog would have died had she and the others not intervened.
On April 6, Jena found out the dog was chipped and back with his owner.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help take care of Champ's medical bills.