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SAN JOSE — A bizarre road rage incident, in which a fluffy little dog was yanked from its owner’s car and thrown into oncoming traffic, has led to the indictment of a man already being held in jail on unrelated charges. 

The dog, a 10-year-old bichon frise named Leo, was killed Feb. 11, 2000. The dog was grabbed from the lap of owner Sara McBurnett after her car bumped another motorist’s vehicle near San Jose International Airport. 

A Santa Clara County grand jury indicted Andrew Burnett on Thursday on a charge of killing or maiming or abusing an animal, a felony punishable by up to three years in prison. 

Karyn Sinunu, a spokeswoman for the Santa Clara district attorney’s office, said Burnett, 27, of Santa Clara, will be arraigned Friday. He was being held on $100,000 bail in the dog-killing case. 

“He showed criminal negligence and complete disregard for the life of the animal, and it eventually was killed because of that disregard,” assistant district attorney Troy Benson said. 

Burnett has been in jail in Santa Clara County on three unrelated matters since mid-December. He is in custody on charges of grand theft, filing a false document in court, and having a dangerous weapon while in jail. His bail is set at a combined $200,000, and he is awaiting trial in those matters. 

In the first charge, he is accused of stealing thousands of dollars worth of tools from his employer, Pacific Bell. He also is accused of filing a false document to get out of a speeding ticket, saying he was in Bosnia serving in the military at the time of the incident. Burnett left the Navy in Virginia three years ago. 

Though he declined to give details, assistant district attorney Al Weger said the investigation into the theft uncovered a lead in Leo’s case. “We think we have a very strong case,” he said. 

McBurnett was driving to the airport to pick up her husband when she said a large black truck cut her off. She said she was unable to stop in time to avoid tapping the rear bumper. 

The damage was minimal, but the man jumped out of his truck and began berating her, McBurnett said. When she rolled down her window to apologize, the man reached inside and grabbed Leo, throwing the dog into three lanes of oncoming traffic. 

“His movements, his body language. He was so aggressive. He had my dog before I could even react. It was like lightning,” McBurnett said. 

McBurnett tried to catch Leo, but the dog was struck by a car and died soon after at a veterinary hospital. 

“I keep seeing his little body going under the car. He made a sound I’ve never heard before,” McBurnett said shortly after the incident. “My heart is broken. He was my baby.” 

McBurnett, a real estate agent from Incline Village, Nev., was inundated with condolence messages from dog lovers around the country, especially after she went on Oprah Winfrey’s nationally televised talk show. 

“It touched everybody’s heart, it was a defenseless little animal that was victimized in a very serious way,” said Marcia Mayeda of the Humane Society of Santa Clara Valley. “It scared a lot of people, because they feel that a person that is this violent with such a trigger temper could do the same thing to a person.” 

Citizens collected $110,000 in reward funds for information leading to an arrest of the killer of the little white dog with a black button nose. 

“I guess he has become such a symbol,” McBurnett said. “It’s so symbolic that such an innocent little fluffy ball of life could be taken with such needless violence.”