A Florida woman is facing animal cruelty charges after she allegedly threw a dog off the second-floor balcony of a motel, in an incident captured by a police body camera.
The incident happened Monday at a motel in Daytona Beach, Fla., according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies were called to the scene for a report of a woman who attacked a maid and threatened to jump off the second floor, police say.
Deputies knocked on the suspect’s door but she initially refused to come out. After a few knocks, she finally opened the door and emerged with a German Shepherd on a leash.
Video shows the woman immediately picking up the dog, then tossing it over the railing without uttering a word to the deputies.
“Whoa whoa!” the deputies can be heard shouting. They don’t react fast enough to stop her.
Police say the dog landed on its feet and started running. A few bystanders managed to get it under control.
The woman was arrested at the scene.
The sheriff’s deputies can be heard describing their shock at the end of the video.
“The dog was loose. She grabs a hold of it and we all thought that she was just going to grab the dog and probably bring it back inside,” one deputy said. “But she just runs up to the railing and —”
“And threw him over the rail,” another deputy said, finishing the sentence.
Allison Murphy, 35, has been charged with animal cruelty and resisting an officer with violence, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office announced in a statement.
Police say the dog was not harmed in the fall. However, an X-ray revealed that the pet had a sewing needle embedded in its thigh.
Vets removed the needle safely.
Sheriff’s deputies named the dog “Miracle” and turned it over to animal services.
A hearing will be held to determine custody of the dog in the coming weeks.
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