After a roommate turned in CCTV evidence of the incident, Florida officials say a lady killed her own pet in a swimming pool before live-streaming the lifeless body.
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office charged Erica Black, 32, with animal cruelty, but she was already being held in jail on a $150,000 bond for aggravated violence with a deadly weapon.
In a social media film in which he brought Black into Brevard County jail, Sheriff Wayne Ivy described the video as “the most horrific thing I’ve ever seen in my life”
The video, which was handed in by her roommate, showed Black stepping into the pool while holding her Chihuahua. She then crouched and held the dog under the water while it struggled noticeably.
Ivy did not reveal the second half of the video, but claimed she let the body float in the pool and photographed it before crashing into the deck four times. According to the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, Black allegedly left the dog’s body on the sofa for four days before live-streaming the corpse on social media.
The judge has added $15,000 to Black’s bond, according to Sheriff Ivy’s social media post.
“If I hear she has as much as a pet rock, I will lose my crap, because this woman doesn’t deserve to have anything. She deserves to rot in jail,” he said.
Animal cruelty is a third-degree crime in Florida whenever someone “intentionally commits an act to any animal, or a person who owns or has the custody or control of any animal and fails to act, which results in the cruel death, or excessive or repeated infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering”
Sheriff Ivy called Black the “most despicable excuse for a human being.”
Citizens in Brevard County can report animal mistreatment by calling 321-633-2024.
The Brevard County Sheriff’s Office has long been vocal about its opposition to animal cruelty. Late this year, Newsweek reported on a similar video published by Sheriff Ivy, in which he brought a lady into the jail after she allegedly stabbed her own dog.
“This is absolutely disgusting. She is being arrested for aggravated animal abuse, animal cruelty. Sadly her bond is only $2,000 and I promise you that I am going to work with our legislators to make sure this changes,” he said in the video.