Police officer says woman's pool act with dog 'most horrific thing I've ever seen'
WARNING - DISTRESSING CONTENT: Police in the US state of Florida have released chilling CCTV of a woman drowning her dog in a pool.
The disturbing footage was posted on social media on Friday by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office, east of Orlando.
Erica Black, the 32-year-old woman accused of the cruel act, was already incarcerated for an aggravated assault charge and reportedly posted a video of her drowning her pet chihuahua to Facebook.
It was captured in October but only recently came to light after the woman's roommate brought home security footage of the incident to authorities, said Sheriff Wayne Ivey in a Facebook post.
In a peculiar display of American machismo, Mr Ivey rebroadcast parts of the CCTV while delivering his own blistering piece to camera in which he described it as "the most horrific thing I've ever seen in my life".
"As you can tell, I'm here at the Brevard County and you know what that means – I'm about to walk another sorry individual into our jail for animal cruelty and animal abuse," he said.
In the police clip, which had been watched more than 3,300 times and attracted more than 1000 comments, the Sheriff delivered a scathing sermon.
"This woman, Erica Black, is without question the most despicable excuse for a human being I have ever seen in my life."
He went on to explain she had already been imprisoned for assault in which she stabbed a 68-year-old man.
"Let me tell you something, as bad and horrific as that is, the video we have of her drowning her little chihuahua is the most horrific thing I've ever seen in my life.
"There is a special place in hell for this woman, and until she gets there, she's going to rot in our jail.
"I'm not going to show you the whole video because it is so graphic and so disgusting it makes me sick."
The Sheriff went on to explain that after drowning the dog, Black "video tapped" it floating in the pool "and then takes it approximately four different times and slams it on the deck."
She later live-stream the animal while on the couch, he said.
After finishing his diatribe, the accused woman is then marched into the jail while the Sheriff loudly berates her for the camera. The woman was handcuffed and it is unclear if she was being transferred from within the jail or if the stunt was purely for the purpose of the public Facebook video.
A caption alongside the post was written in all caps: "IF YOU DROWN YOUR DOG IN A POOL SHERIFF IVEY IS GOING TO PERSONALLY WALK YOUR BUTT INTO JAIL!!"
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