A Florida man is accused of animal torture after deputies said he intentionally drove over a deer for a TikTok video, according to an arrest report seen by Business Insider.
Clay Neil Kinney, 27, of Geneva, Florida, is facing one felony charge and five misdemeanor counts following his arrest on December 28, court records show.
Per the arrest report from the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office, Kinney was under investigation, suspected of “running over deer and posting the video on TikTok.” He was pulled over by a detective who had knowledge that his license had been suspended, according to the report.
Kinney was then arrested, and deputies said he later admitted to “intentionally” running over the animal, an unredacted version of the arrest report obtained by Law & Crime states. Per video seen by the SCSO, Kinney attempted to run over five deer but only ended up hitting one. He is due in court on January 30 to be arraigned on animal torture charges, as well as driving with a suspended license.
This is not Kinney’s first run-in with the law. In May 2021, Kinney was found guilty of illegally hunting on protected land and given six years probation. Two months later, he was charged with illegal taking of a deer after a captured fawn was found in his possession and was fined $758, Law & Crime reported.
The Seminole County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to BI’s request for comment, and no attorney is currently listed as representing Kinney.
Kinney has faced animal conservation charges before. In August 2021, he was accused of illegal taking and possession of a deer, a first-degree misdemeanor, court records show. He was found guilty and fined $850.
TikTok, along with other video-sharing platforms like YouTube and Facebook, has in the past been accused of allowing footage featuring animal cruelty to be uploaded and circulated online. The animal protection organization International Animal Rescue has said it receives “countless” messages from the public reporting such content.
In 2020, various animal protection organizations joined forces to create the Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition with the aim of addressing the issue.
TikTok states that it does not allow “any content that promotes, glorifies, or normalizes violence against animals or the suffering of animals.” However, in August, a trend of spinning cats in the air to a Taylor Swift song went viral on the app. It was criticized by the animal charity Cats Protection. A spokesperson told UK news outlet Metro.co.uk that it likely caused distress to the pets involved, which was unethical and potentially criminal.
In response to Business Insider’s request for comment, TikTok pointed to its community guidelines relating to animal abuse and said that between July and September 2023, 97.5% of videos that violated the terms were removed proactively.
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Source: businessinsider
