[UPDATE BELOW] A 12-year-old girl was arrested in Queens last week for allegedly killing a 3-month-old cat; authorities say she tossed the kitten in front of a moving car last month, later telling a witness, "I would do it again if I could."
The Daily News reports that 3-month-old Little Man, a tabby belonging to Nanette Licari and Robert Salerno, was killed in Ozone Park on September 11th, and officials say the unnamed tween was responsible for its death. She and four or five friends are accused of coaxing the kitten from its perch outside its owners' home, then tossing it into the street at 102nd St. and 101st Ave, where it was crushed by a car.
"I think they were playing with the cat, tossing it back and forth,” Hassan Zghari, store manager at a Key Food supermarket nearby, told the Daily News. “It was a group of kids, and she threw it in the street.”
A relative says the girl is an animal lover who could never have carried out such a cruel act; meanwhile, another witness says the girl allegedly said, "I would do it again if I could," when confronted about the incident. After a nearly month-long investigation, she was arrested by ASPCA officers on Thursday and has been charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, a felony that carries a sentence of up to 2 years in prison for adults.
Update 11:55 a.m.: Stacy Wolf, senior vice president of the ASPCA’s Anti-Cruelty Group, issued the following statement regarding the incident: "The callousness demonstrated in this case is certainly disturbing. We can only hope that this young lady takes responsibility for her actions and understands that cruelty to animals will not be tolerated in our society.”
