Warning: this article contains a disturbing video of violence against an animal.
Growing up, a lot of us did some stuff that we’d split a gut if someone suggested them to us now.
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For instance, you couldn’t pay me to try to bring something illegal into a courthouse, but one of my friends had to think long and hard before stashing it in the bushes outside.
Surprisingly, it worked, but I wouldn’t try that yourself if I were you.
But even if that went wrong, the only one he would’ve harmed would be himself. When these dumb things that kids do start to harm the innocent, that’s when things have gone too far.
And as the full video shows, that’s exactly what happened in the case of a British teen.
This teenager was caught on camera abusing an animal, and the video has gone viral in an attempt to identify and rightfully punish the perpetrator.
On Saturday, a clip hit Twitter that showed a teen in Portsmouth, England standing in front of a cat.
At first, he seems gentle and sticks his hand out so that the cat can get comfortable with his scent.
However, a mischievous look he casts to his friends makes it clear that his intentions aren’t so pure.
Before long, he slaps the cat across the face, which sends it tumbling off the wall it was sitting on.
Before the clip was uploaded to Twitter, the boy’s friend uploaded it to Snapchat with the caption “geezer.”
In the U.K., this is more or less the equivalent to when we define someone as a stereotypical “bro.”
In any case, both the teen and his friends apparently found his actions funny.
However, it seemed like they would be the only ones.
Once the clip was uploaded to Twitter, user “@jai_bailey” called on fellow users to name and shame the person involved.
The internet jumped into action immediately.
People quickly responded with potential names and phone numbers, but the issue with calling on the internet to solve crimes is that releasing someone’s information can sometimes take a backseat to determining whether they’re actually the person involved.
Hence, we sometimes see those with no involvement suddenly flooded with hate messages.
For instance, in the case of the Boston Marathon bombing, a group of dedicated and well-meaning Reddit users mis-identified the culprit, which led to the harassment of an innocent person’s family.
This time, however, police worked about as quickly as those who responded on Twitter.
As the BBC reported , the Hampshire Constabulary has confirmed the arrest of a 15-year-old boy suspected of slapping the cat, which violates the U.K.’s Animal Welfare Act of 2006.
Even so, it seems like they’re not ready to call this an open and shut case yet.
According to the BBC , police are still asking anyone who witnessed the event to contact them.
Some people on Twitter seem to have confirmed his identity.
While the suspected perpetrator’s Twitter and Instagram accounts have now been deleted or made private, some users were saying he was posting on the social media sites “full of attitude.”
People were confused and distraught by his actions.
Some users rightfully pointed out that while the act itself is terrible, filming the evidence and uploading it online is a downright stupid move that can only help you get caught.
The clip that started it all is neither long nor of particularly good quality, but it apparently gave people enough information to work with.
If police do have the boy involved in custody, it seems unlikely that he still finds his actions so funny.
Still, regardless of the consequences, seeing a cat get slapped is likely to put some folks in a sour mood.
![Image credit: Reddit | [deleted]](https://static.diply.com/JurdvFzq9nNBtWF6wYZZ.jpg)
So, let’s cap all of this off with a nice pic of two of them sharing a very adorable snuggle.
h/t BBC
