Andre Robinson, age 21, arrested May 5th and taken to the 81st Precinct. Photo c/o The Daily News
Kicking cats is apparently the new ‘tough guy’ sport, as demonstrated by Andre Robinson. The Brooklyn resident was filmed last Friday kicking a local neighborhood cat, named King, while his friends laughed manically.
The video first appeared On The Real Facebook page with the message: “This is NEVER okay to do. Please share; hopefully somebody will recognize this fool.” The video and work by enraged animal lovers to identify the suspect has since led to the arrest of Robinson. Facebook users “used video enhancing software to blow up the scene and see details that later led police to identify the scene of the crime as the Brevoort Houses in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.”
Photo c/o The Gothamist
While Robinson was picked up by police on Monday, he was let go without bail despite the arrest report stating that the cat flew approximately 8 to 10 feet in the air and a veterinarian telling police that, “such a kick will result in serious injury”.
Robinson’s lawyer, William Hair, defended the animal abuser, saying it is “unclear who is in the video” after admitting that he had not watched the footage. Mary Kirby, Robinson’s mother, insisted that his behavior was out of character, “He had to be high on something. It’s very out of his character. He had to be high to do what he did. This isn’t him… He loves animals. He loved his cats, he had dogs, he always loved them.” Kirby later identified her son in the video as “the individual depicted in the above-described video recording.”, according to a criminal complaint.
According to The Daily News, Robinson has eight prior arrests, including one for robbing someone by knifepoint in 2011.
Some comments on the video questioned why the footage was considered important when there were other community problems to focus on. The answer is simple, animal abuse is a community problem for both animals and humans. A study by the Massachusetts Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and Northeastern University found that, “animal abusers were five times more likely to commit violent crimes against people,”. Another study conducted between 2001-2004 by the Chicago Police Department found a connection between “offenders charged with crimes against animals to commit other violent offenses toward human victims.” 65% of offenders arrested for animal crimes had committed battery against another person and 46% of murderers admitted to acts of animal torture as adolescents.
Photo c/o Sean Casey Animal Rescue Facebook page
So where’s the good news in this story? Just an hour ago the awesome rescue, Sean Casey Animal Rescue, announced on their Facebook page that they have caught King. They released the following statement:
We have some Breaking News to share with you. We are sure you all have seen the very disturbing video of Mr Andre Robinson kicking a friendly stray cat in Brooklyn. The video was very heartbreaking for us to see and we have been working diligently with the NYPD since the video surfaced.
We are happy to announce that just within the past hour, with the joint efforts of Sean Casey Animal Rescue, North Shore Animal League, The Mayors Alliance and the New York City Police Department the cat that was senselessly kicked has been found and caught. The cat is currently being transported to the ASPCA in Manhattan for emergency veterinary care. We will update everyone once we find out more about its condition. Please keep the poor cat in your thoughts during this hard time.
Follow Us