The shocking moment teen throws cat from third-floor balcony
A US teenager who threw a cat off a third-storey balcony to the amusement of her friends has been arrested and charged with animal cruelty.
Tikeemah Lassiter, from New Jersey, was investigated after she posted the video online and a viewer complained to police.
The cat miraculously survived the fall after landing on the hard pavement below, but has since been removed from Lassiter’s care and placed in an animal shelter.
The 19-year-old was filmed holding the tabby cat and taking several steps towards the railing before launching the animal into the air.
Her friends laugh as they watch the cat hit the footpath, just metres away from the road.
“It’s dead?” one woman asks as the camera zooms in on the animal’s body.
The cat moves its head but lies still on the footpath.
A boy from the same neighbourhood found the animal and gave it to local cat rescuer Yasmin Rivera, who renamed her Karma.
Ms Rivera posted updates on her Facebook page to let her followers know that the cat has been taken to the vet to check for any internal injuries.
She said she has been inundated with requests from people wanting to adopt cat.
