An individual identified in a video as having drop-kicked a puppy to death to entertain his friends in Mississippi has finally had the misdemeanor animal cruelty charge amended to a felony.
Mississippi’s In Defense of Animals (IDA) spokesman Doll Stanley is urging the district attorney to prosecute this case to the fullest extent.
“We were alerted about the Facebook post of a puppy in a sitting position being picked up and punted high into the air from the tailgate of a pickup by a man and slamming lifelessly onto the ground while the man's friends laughed and cheered at the macabre crime,” Stanley said in a statement.
Stanley went on to say Holmes County Sheriff Willie Marsh identified Drone Da-Quan Brown as the person who “punted” the weeks-old puppy, and posted a video captioned with “FELLAS!! This How We Kickin B I T C H E S to Da Curve [Sic] All 2023.”
Stanley said Sheriff Marsh reported having difficulty getting the Holmes County Justice Court judges to sign an arrest warrant for Brown.
March 1, 2023, Stanley met with Chief Deputy Roosevelt March at the Sheriff's Department beside the county jail, who advised Stanley that Brown was in jail for murder and animal cruelty.
“Regional animal protectionists have found Holmes County officials to be chronically resistant to aiding with the prosecution of animal cruelty cases,” IDA said in a press release. “Stanley and a regional veterinarian friend have worked side by side addressing cruelty cases in the region. The veterinarian called Stanley shortly after she left the courthouse to tell her Brown was arrested on a misdemeanor charge because the puppy could not be recovered for evidence. However, the law doesn't require an animal to die for a felony cruelty charge.
The charge has since been amended to a felony, and he will face the grand jury.
