The Houston woman seen in a viral video kicking and punching a yelping dog said the dog, which is not hers, had just attacked her 5-year-old son.
Houston Police Department’s Animal Cruelty Unit is investigating the case, but Jay, the accused woman, said an officer told her she likely won’t face charges.
Over the weekend, Jay said her 5-year-old son ran up to her crying, followed by a dog she had never seen.
“He fell,” Jay said, referring to her son. “When he fell, the dog jumped on top of him.”
Jay tried to move the dog, but it “came back again and scratched Jace behind the ear.”
The recording picks up seconds later. Jay said when the dog jumps into her car, she is seen kicking and punching at it as it yelps.
“I didn’t post the video,” Jay said, adding that she doesn’t know who recorded it and doesn’t know the people seen in the video laughing. “That’s nothing to brag about, fighting a dog.”
“The Kris Kelly Foundation,” a nonprofit based in California that works “to save animals from abuse” posted the video on Facebook on Saturday, which has been shared by hundreds and viewed thousands of times.
The post included Jay’s name, an incorrect address, a link to her Facebook page, other contact information and numbers for Houston Police and CPS.
Hundreds of strangers have reached out online to threaten Jay and her relatives, they said.
“Burn in hell,” said one post.
“You both deserved to get kicked in the teeth and it’ll happen, don’t worry,” said another. “We have your address.”
Jay decided not to send her son to school after more than one person online threatened to kidnap him, she said.
“I made a police report, I spoke to the detectives, and I showed them the pictures,” Jay added.
The Houston Police Department has its own Animal Cruelty Unit, and Harris County has an Animal Cruelty Task Force. They often work with the Houston Humane Society and other shelters.
“Unfortunately, it is something we see often, we get cruelty cases here a lot, once or twice per month,” Katie Fine with the Houston Humane Society said.
“Any cruelty case that comes to us, we get a certain amount of time to look over the animal and we have to document everything about them, if they have any fleas to if they have any scaring, or behavioral issues,” she said.
“We look over the animal, take some x-rays, make sure that if there is damage, that’s something that we can document so that we can submit it to the courts,” she added.
An HPD spokesperson declined to talk about potential charges in this case.