SAINT PETERSBURG, Fla. — A St. Petersburg man is charged with animal cruelty after police say he kicked a baby raccoon into the road and picked up a dog by its leash, slung it around and kicked it.
According to police, a witness saw Kenneth McNeil take a dog from a post where it was tied at a convenience store early Sunday morning. He held the dog in the air so that it hung by its neck and then was seen slinging the dog around and kicking it, making the dog yelp and cry, the report says.
The witness, who was across the street, intervened and took the dog from McNeil. By the time police arrived, McNeil had left the area.
Later that morning, a St. Pete police officer was driving when he says he saw McNeil kicking a baby raccoon from a curb into the roadway.
The officer wrote that McNeil "intentionally and violently kicked the baby raccoon two additional times...the baby raccoon was visibly injured as it rolled and squirmed on the ground unable to get to its feet."
The baby raccoon was taken to the emergency vet, but it died shortly after it got there, according to the police report.
This makes McNeil's 42nd arrest in St. Pete since 2011. He's being held at the Pinellas County jail on two counts of cruelty to animals and one count of petit theft for taking the dog.
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