Animal cruelty is an ugly thing, but at least sometimes you can make sense of it. The man or woman was drunk. Or they were under a lot of stress. Or something else. Not things that justify the act, but that at least explain it. But it’s unprovoked, unexplained animal cruelty that hits the hardest. Like dropping a dog to his death from a bridge. This is exactly what a Scott County teen did last year and is just now arrested for. The arrest happened thanks to a video made of the incident that was finally shared with the people.
The teenager in question was 17 at the time. It was an unidentified female friend who used her phone to capture the footage of the dog’s death in May 2017. The perpetrator is 18-years-old now but is charged via a juvenile petition in Scott County Juvenile Court due to him being a minor at the time of the incident.
After the video was aired online by the teenager’s female friend, he wrote a post about it.
“OK, so most of you guys have heard about the video that’s been going around,” the post stated. “To start off, I realized that it was a (expletive) up thing to do and that I should’ve never done it. If I could go back, I would’ve.”
The teenager also wrote that he was not the same person he was a year ago when he killed the dog.
“People change,” the post stated. “I am sorry to all the people that are upset right now. You guys have every right to be pissed. I do agree that I deserve to be punished, and I will be.”
The teenager’s post in Snapchat was made a day before he got arrested.
Source: Michael Patrick / News Sentinel
“I’m not asking for forgiveness,” he continued. “I’m just letting everyone know that I realized what I did was (expletive) up and that I’ve changed a lot since that video, and I’d like to thank all of the people that have realized that this far.”
The young man still hasn’t given a reason for his behavior. He is set to appear before Scott County Court Judge James Cotton Jr. next Wednesday. If convicted, he’ll likely face a brief detention in a juvenile facility or a probationary sentence.
