Cat thrown off sixth-floor balcony
Panama City Beach, FL (US)Incident Date: Sunday, Oct 17, 2010
County: Bay
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged
Alleged: Bobby Dewayne Johnson
A Baton Rouge man faces a felony charge after allegedly throwing his roommate's cat off a sixth-story balcony Sunday night, killing the animal, law enforcement officials said Monday.
The cat landed and died in front of the roommate and Panama City Beach police officers who were standing in the parking lot of Grand Panama Beach Resort, according to several reports filed by the PCBPD officers.
Authorities said Bobby Dewayne Johnson, 26, was charged with felony animal cruelty and misdemeanor battery after attacking his roommate, 33-year-old Gregory Donnell Stafford, during an altercation over the gray and white cat, Coco Chanel, that happened shortly before midnight Sunday.
Stafford told officers that Johnson had thrown the cat across the condo several times and that when he tried to intervene, Johnson hit him and continued to chase after the cat, which was scratching and clawing at Johnson every time he came near. The cat kept hiding under a couch, which Johnson kept moving in an attempt to get at the feline, officers wrote.
Stafford eventually left the room to call police, while Johnson still was chasing the cat, according to police.
But while Stafford was discussing the matter with PCBPD officers, the tabby came flying off the balcony, the officers reported. The officers immediately went up to the room and saw Johnson standing on the balcony and arrested him, according to the arrest report.
Stafford declined to comment about the incident, and Johnson could not be reached for comment Monday.
Officers noted that Johnson had deep scratches on wrist, leg, back and neck.
"The visible signs of injury to Mr. Johnson were consistent with scratches caused from a frightened cat," Officer Vicki Patrick wrote in a complaint affidavit. "Scratch marks on his hands were parallel and could have only come from a cat."
She added that it was impossible for the cat to have fallen off the balcony because the feline had to clear a parking garage level and a pool deck level that extended out from the building in order to land in the parking lot.
When officers brought Johnson to the dead cat, he "smiled and did not say anything," police reported.
After taking photographs of the cat, officers gave it to Stafford for burial, according to the reports.
It is not uncommon during a domestic incident for one person to take out their anger against another person by attacking something or someone they love, said Chief Robert Harding of the Panama City Beach Police Department.
"It's unfortunate that the animal had to suffer though that ordeal," he said, adding that Stafford will get the chance to explain his side of the situation to a jury. "I don't see any justification for what he did." References |
