How Tikeemah Lassiter a Newark New Jersey teen threw a cat out of a third floor balcony before posting it on social media before being reported.
Tikeemah Lassiter a 19 year old Clinton, New Jersey woman has been arrested after she was caught on video throwing a cat out of a third floor apartment.
Upon her arrest on Saturday, Tikeemah Jamilah Lassiter was charged with animal cruelty.
The teen’s arrest notes nbcnewyork came after a ‘concerned’ citizen alerted Newark police after coming across a social media post showing Lassiter throwing a cat from a third floor balcony in the 300-block of South Orange Avenue.
It is thought that Lassiter herself posted the video (see below) on her own Instagram account.
Detectives determined Lassiter was a suspect after discovering she’d been visiting relatives in the area the time of the incident, which happened last Thursday.
At the time of the cat being thrown off, another woman, who has not been identified can be heard laughing on the video asking ‘really?’ and ‘it’s dead?’.
Tikeemah Lassiter #animalabuser Newark new jersey pic.twitter.com/CHJtxV2BF2
— ✦Anonymous✦ (@h0t_p0ppy) December 4, 2016
While the cat survived the incident, it currently remains in the care of the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, police said. A veterinarian will examine the cat and determine its appropriate placement.
It has since been revealed that Lassiter’s relatives whom she was visiting did not own the cat.
The cat was later found in the neighborhood by a woman named Yasmin Rivera, according to Facebook posts she made. Rivera turned the cat over to the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Rivera said the cat was found in a housing complex and several other stray cats were also in the area.
A $10,000 warrant was previously issued for Tikeemah Lassiter’s arrest by New Jersey Transit Police after allegedly assaulting a Transit Police officer. What led to Lassiter assaulting the officer is yet to be necessarily understood.
If found guilty of animal cruelty, Lassiter faces the prospect of up to 6 months in jail, a fine between $250 to $1,000 and up to 30 days of community service to be served by assisting the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
